Oil holds near annual peaks

Crude oil prices edged up for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, close to their highest levels since mid-2015, ahead of US oil inventory figures and as the market awaits evidence of OPEC supply reductions in the new year.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were up 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $54.16 per barrel by 11:22 a.m. EST (1622 GMT), not far from the year’s high of $54.51 reached on Dec. 12.
Brent crude futures were up 32 cents at $56.41 a barrel. The international benchmark hit $57.89 on Dec. 12, its highest since July 2015. Oil prices have gained 25 percent since mid-November, helped by expectations for OPEC’s supply cut and solid US economic figures that have also bolstered equity prices.
Trading was thin, with just 189,000 front-month futures contracts changing hands in WTI by 11:07 a.m. ET (1607 GMT), compared with a daily average of 525,000 over the last 200 days. It is expected to remain quiet for the balance of the week.
The market is taking a wait-and-see approach to the official start of the landmark deal reached by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and several non-OPEC members to reduce their output. The deal is set to kick in on Jan. 1.
Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali Al-Luaibi said on Wednesday his country, which has seen fast production growth in the past two years, would cut supply by 200,000-210,000 bpd from January.
Luaibi said on a visit to fellow OPEC member Kuwait that he saw oil prices rising to $60 per barrel as the cuts would help ease the global glut of the past three years, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Meanwhile, gold was little changed on Wednesday, off a near two-week high hit in the previous session and weighed down by a stronger dollar and European equities. Spot gold was unchanged at $1,138.96 an ounce by 1304 GMT, after hitting its strongest since Dec. 14 at $1,148.98 on Tuesday. US gold futures were up $1.10 to $1,139.80 an ounce.

Source: Arab News