Slowing drilling at U.S. shale formations
Futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent in London. Overseas shipments increased 11.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data on Nov. 8, exceeding the 10.6 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week shrank to the lowest since August, Baker Hughes Inc. said last week.
Oil has slumped into a bear market amid a global glut, slowing drilling at U.S. shale formations. Leading producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are responding by cutting prices, resisting calls to reduce supply as they compete with the highest U.S. output in three decades.
“It could be taken as a lead that, with exports increasing, demand will follow,” Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “Rising supply is the key issue for the market.”
Brent for December settlement rose as much as 56 cents to $83.95 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $83.65 at 3:41 p.m. Singapore time. Prices slid for a seventh week through Nov. 7, the longest run of declines since November 2001, and are 25 percent lower this year. The volume of all futures traded was 25 percent above the 100-day average.
WTI for December delivery was at $78.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 18 cents. Prices have lost 20 percent this year. The contract is at a discount of $4.80 to Brent, compared with $6 a week ago.