London — Oil rose on Tuesday, breaking a six-day streak of price falls, but with doubt swirling over Opec’s ability to force global crude inventories to drop, sentiment has turned more bearish. Brent crude was up eight US cents at $51.68 a barrel by 0940 GMT, while US crude futures were up 10c at $49.33 a barrel. Brent was down 10% since late 2016, despite efforts led by oil cartel Opec and Russia to cut output by 1.8-million barrels per day in the first half of 2017. Given that oil supplies remain at record highs, Stephen Schork of the Schork report, said on Tuesday that "Opec has failed miserably in its endeavour to balance the oil market". JPMorgan said in its latest weekly market note to clients that "it is evident that … crude markets are still struggling to clear [oversupply]". The bank said it was closing its "August Brent long position at a loss". JPMorgan said that to reduce the supply overhang, Opec "will be forced to renew, and possibly deepen the agreement if they wish t...
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