Oil touches 3-month lows

Oil hovered around three-month lows on Monday, as rising US inventories and drilling activity offset optimism over the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) efforts to restrict crude output.
Brent crude was down 7 cents at $51.30 a barrel by 1202 GMT, having hit a session trough of $50.85, its lowest level since Nov. 30. US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 15 cents to $48.34 a barrel. The price has fallen by more than 8 percent since last Monday, its biggest week-on-week drop in four months, and analysts said the slide may not have much further to run.
“The market is bearish because sentiment has turned. The risk is still toward the downside, but we are nowhere near the precipice,” PVM Oil Associates Tamas Varga said.
Goldman Sachs said in a note it remained “very confident” about commodity prices and maintained its price forecast of $57.50 a barrel for WTI in the second quarter. US drillers added oil rigs for an eighth consecutive week, Baker Hughes said on Friday, lifting spending to benefit from an earlier recovery in crude prices since OPEC agreed to cut output.

Source: Arab News