Despite the fact that OPEC members managed to successfully agree to extend their agreement on the reduction of oil production until the end of 2018, the price of crude oil did not receive a huge boost. Instead, the markets remained careful, on the expectation that the United States might still offset the oil market somehow.
This is what happened yesterday and lowered oil prices. We learned that the United States have increased their fuel reserves four to five times beyond the forecasted expectations, which is quite a substantial difference. Still, the crude oil reserves are lower even in the US, though this does not apply to shale oil. Shale oil is much cheaper to extract and has given an edge to the United States before OPEC, since it permits the US to produce and sell oil at very low costs without suffering losses. Investors still fear that higher oil prices will attract shale oil producers in the United States and cause them to up their production, which would drive oil prices back down.
The WTI was down to $56.80, while the Brent crude traded around $62.18.
