Oil prices rose about 2% yesterday, supported by Saudi Arabian export cuts in November and comments from the OPEC meeting in Moscow that the market is rebalancing after years of oversupply.

Earlier today in the meeting in Moscow, the world’s biggest oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have announced a $1BN fund to invest in energy projects that is expected boost the economic and political partnership between the two countries.

According to the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, it is not unreasonable to expect oil prices at $60/bbl by 2020.

After Iraqi oil minister’s reported that OPEC members are considering extending the output cuts, oil prices rose for the largest gain in 13 years, with WTI reaching 50.08 USD/bbl and Brent 55.68 USD/bbl.

Crude inventories rose by 6.2 Mbbls by the end of last week to 468.8 Mbbls, beating for one more time analysts’ expectations.

Oil prices were up again today due to the strong global refining margins and the successful reopening of USG refineries.

Tropical Storm Harvey, which has flooded the USG Coast, severely damaged the region’s refining capacity and increased the crude inventories as refiners are no longer able to take more oil. Gasoline futures and other refined product futures and prices continued to soar on fears of fuel shortages across the region.

It has been 2 years since the discovery of the Liza oil field and Exxonmobil announced that they have discovered more oil in the Payara reservoir off the coast of Guyana, which increases the total discovery to approximately 500 Mbbls.

US crude inventories fell by 9.2Mbbls last week, almost 3 times more than analysts expected.

Oil surpassed USD 52/ bbl today ahead of the US stocks report which is expected to show crude stocks down for 6 weeks in a row, however it is still uncertain if the OPEC led oil supply cuts will materialise.

Despite the fact that growth in US shale oil production is slowing, it still makes OPEC’s efforts to cut supply and normalize global inventories more difficult, keeping benchmark prices capped at around $50/bbl on this quarter.

Oil prices rise for a 3rd straight session after US crude stockpiles fell by 10.2M bbls last week.

Brent crude is currently trading around $49/bbl as the market was boosted by rumours that Saudi Arabia could cut output by 1 m bbl’s/pd.

Opec still pumping too much oil and according to the latest statements of the region Saudi Arabia is expected to cut crude oil shipments to its customers in August by more than 600k bbls/day.

The latest developments in oil news show that crude oil snapped again, after a week of constant upward movement, as Russia stated that they will oppose to any proposals to extend the OPEC production cuts.