Global Oil Falls For Third Week

• Global Oil Falls For Third Week

Global oil prices plunged for a third week as shale and OPEC production continued to surge amid global oil glut.

The West Texas Intermediate, WTI, declined to $45.84 a barrel, while Brent crude traded at $48.15 a barrel from $52 it traded last week.

On Tuesday, Shell Nigeria announced it has lifted exports restrictions on a key Nigeria crude oil pipeline. Boosting production by 250,000 barrels a day, according to loading report.

Accordingly, the US crude oil production is expected for the first time in almost 50 years to reach 10 million barrels per day by March 2018, the US Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

“Increased drilling activity in US tight oil basins, especially those located in Texas, is the main contributor to oil production growth, as the total number of active rigs drilling for oil in the United States has more than doubled over the past 12 months,” the EIA’s acting Administrator, Howard Gruenspecht, said in a statement.

Also, Libya has resumed production at the Sharara oil field, its largest oil field with 213,000 barrels a day capacity to boost its production. This according to experts would boost global supplies and further plunge oil prices if OPEC giants failed to cut equal production.

“The US oil rig count jumped to 741 rigs last week, suggesting continuous production and renewed confidence. Therefore, OPEC will need to do more henceforth,” said Samed Olukoya, a foreign exchange research analyst at Investors King Ltd.

OPEC newest member, Equatorial Guinea, called on other oil producers in the region to join OPEC to protect the value of their oil resources.