Oil holds near 2019 peak as global supplies tighten

Oil held near 2019 highs on Thursday, supported by tightening U.S. stocks and declining output from key producers due to OPEC production cuts and U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

International Brent crude oil futures were up 5 cents at $68.55 a barrel by 0915 GMT, having hit their highest since Nov. 13 at $68.69 earlier in the session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $60.10 per barrel, down 13 cents. WTI reached its highest since Nov. 12 earlier in the day, at $60.33 per barrel.

Crude prices have been pushed up by almost a third since the start of 2019 by supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as sanctions enacted against Iran and Venezuela by the United States.

The drop in production has led to a tightening in global inventories. Vienna-based consultancy JBC Energy estimated stocks had run down by a “solid” 40 million barrels since mid-January.

That followed a 10-million-barrel fall in U.S. crude stocks last week, the largest drop since last July, boosted by strong export and refining demand, according to the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).[EIA/S]

Meanwhile, OPEC’s crude output slumped from a mid-2018 peak of 32.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to 30.7 million bpd in February.