Oil markets near three-year highs, supported by healthy demand
Brent crude prices settling around $70 per barrel, levels last seen before the start of an oil market slump in late 2014.Prices have been driven up by production curbs in OPEC nations and Russia, as well as by robust demand on the back of healthy global economic growth. An effort to tighten markets and prop up prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia started to withhold production in January last year, and the cuts are set to last through 2018.This restraint has coincided with healthy oil demand and economic growth, pushing up crude prices by more than 13 percent since early December. Crude futures have also been supported by a weak dollar, which fell to its lowest level in three years late on Monday against a basket of other leading currencies. The major factor that in late 2017 held back crude prices, the surge in U.S. production, has stalled at least temporarily as icy winter weather in North America has shut down some facilities. Instead of hitting 10 million bpd this month, as widely expected, U.S. production fell from 9.8 million bpd in December to 9.5 million bpd currently.
Source : Investing
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