Market Report & Analysis for 2/19/2019 Morning Edition

Oil prices rose strongly last week after declining the previous week. The spotlight was progress in negotiations between the US and China as they attempt to hash out a trade deal before the March 1 deadline.

Another round of negotiations will take place this coming week in the US. Also, President Trump indicated last week that he may be willing to postpone the March 1 deadline if progress continues. Oil prices are at the highs for the year with Brent the big winner last week as concern is growing that the OPEC+ cuts are remaining strong with Saudi Arabia indicating that they would increase their cuts in March.

With the cuts coming from the international side of the global logistics system Brent is getting bid up more strongly than WTI as crude oil production continues to grow in the US. So far OPEC and its non-OPEC producing partners continue to cede market share to US producers as they place more emphasis on price support rather than market share.

Last week the latest Baker Hughes data hit the media airwaves reporting the number of rigs deployed to the US oil sector increased for the second week in a row. This week the oil rig count increased by 3 rigs. Total US crude oil production is about 15.9 percent above where it was for the same week a year ago. This week’s production came in at 11.909 million bpd.