Oil continues to rise after OPEC forecast 2020 oil deficit

Oil prices maintained gains as the US marker opened on Thursday, on OPEC forecast for supply deficit during 2020, in addition a surprise drop in US crude production for the first time since late September.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose to $59.16, after opening at $58.83, with a session-low of $58.80, and Brent rose to $64.36 a barrel, after opening at $63.80, and hit a low of $63.80.

WTI closed lower by 0.5% on Wednesday, and Brent crude futures fell by around 0.6%, their second daily loss in 3 days, after an unexpected build in US crude inventories.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed yesterday that the US crude inventories rose by 0.8 million barrels during the week ending in December 6, beating forecasts of drop by 2.9 by 0.4 million barrels.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Wednesday that it expects a slight deficit in the global supply next year, which means that supply is lower than expected, even before the output cut agreement taking effect in the first quarter of 2020.

This revised OPEC's forecast shows a different approach, after the organization previously estimated an oversupply in 2020, and OPEC attributed that to the US shale oil production starting to slow down.

Similarly, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed yesterday that oil production fell by about 100,000 barrels last week, to a total of 12.8 million barrels per day, which is the first weekly drop since the week ending Sept.27.