Finance

Oil dips as Saudi offers more crude

Crude oil futures fell onFriday, paring earlier gains after Brent rose to a five-week high of $120 a barrel as Saudi Arabia began offering more oil to Asian refiners. This has eased worries about supplies following an inconclusive OPEC meeting.

Top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia is offering more crude to Asian refiners in July, industry sources with direct knowledge of negotiations said on Friday, the first evidence it is taking steps to unilaterally increase supplies.

ICE Brent for July delivery was 25 cents down at $119.32 a barrel at 6:09, having risen to a high of $120.07 earlier, the highest since May 5.

The contract pared gains following a strong rally over the course of the week.

U.S. crude also reversed early gains to trade down 67 cents at $101.26 a barrel.

“I would expect people to start to digest what happened during the meeting: it means OPEC has no longer a quota, no restraint on production and Saudi Arabia is doing that, offering more to Asian customers. “This element today should lead to some pressure on prices,” Christophe Barret from Credit Agricole CIB said.

OPEC met on Wednesday and for the first time in about a decade, failed to agree on output policy.

“Today, we’re seeing a normalisation, it’s back to reality,” Commerzbank analyst, Carsten Fritsch said. Merrill Lynch analysts piled into the debate, arguing in a note that a breakdown in cohesion in OPEC cannot be a bullish signal for oil prices in the medium term.

“OPEC’s position could come back to hurt the cartel as the high cost of energy is a key risk to growth. Our energy as a share of GDP indicator suggests energy prices are reaching maximum affordability for the global economy.

“Our economists believe that the high oil prices washed out the U.S. fiscal stimulus passed in December hampering the recovery in America.

“Similar negative effects can be observed in other oil- consuming economies.

Poor consuming countries like India or highly indebted countries like Greece or Portugal could struggle on higher oil prices, and the risk of a spike and crash scenario for oil will increase,” they said.