Venezuela’s struggles support oil, but surge in US supply looms
Brent is steady amid Venezuela’s battle to meet supply obligations and the Opec-led output cuts, but the increase in production from US shale will weigh on the market
Singapore — Oil prices were stable on Friday, supported by Venezuela’s struggles to meet its supply obligations and by ongoing output cuts led by producer cartel Opec, although surging US crude output was looming over markets. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $77.24 a barrel at 3.17am GMT, a notch below their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 9c at $66.04 a barrel. Prices were pushed up by supply trouble in Venezuela, where state-owned oil firm PDVSA is struggling to clear a backlog of about 24-million barrels of crude waiting to be shipped to customers. Out of sync Despite this, oil markets are not unanimously bullish. One of the key features of oil markets recently has been the widening discount of US WTI crude versus Brent, which has almost quadrupled since February to more than $11 a barrel, its steepest discount since 2015. "This is occurring because of the rapid increase in production from US shale couple...
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