IEA Sees Record Middle East Oil Supply as U.S. Output Slumps
- Middle East’s market share is the highest since the late 1970s
- Record inventories remain ‘threat to stability’ of prices
Oil Prices Stuck in Supply and Demand Trading Range
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Oil production from the Middle East has climbed to a record while U.S. output slumps, the International Energy Agency said, in a sign that OPEC’s strategy of defending market share is succeeding.
Middle Eastern output exceeded 31 million barrels a day for a third month in June amid near-record supply from Saudi Arabia, while U.S. oil production slid 140,000 barrels a day to 12.45 million, the agency said in its monthly market report. The IEA, which mostly kept forecasts for supply and demand unchanged, said that while the rebalancing of the oil market is progressing, brimming inventories remain “a threat to the recent stability of oil prices.”