
Oil prices fell nearly one percent on Monday in response to growing evidence that U.S. production is rising and as some investors unwound positions ahead of OPEC’s first report on compliance with its deal to cut production.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures
U.S. oil drillers have added most drilling rigs since 2012 over the past month, bringing the total count to 591 rigs, the most since October 2015, Baker Hughes said in its weekly report. This rise in U.S. activity comes just as some oil producers are reducing output to reverse global oversupply in a bid to prop up prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, agreed late last year to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of 2017.
The group will publish its first assessment of compliance with the deal on Monday. Sources told Reuters last week compliance according to OPEC calculations was 92 percent in January, while the International Energy Agency said the rate was 90 percent. Kuwait’s oil minister said on Monday that OPEC compliance was 92 percent while that of non-OPEC producers was 50 percent.