West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) traded near $100 a barrel on Monday, dragged lower by the decline in US non-farm payrolls and speculation the Federal Reserve could slowdown the pace of reducing its monthly bond purchases.
WTI crude for March delivery dropped 0.36% to $99.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the time of writing, while the European benchmark Brent was down 0.55% to $108.97 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark Brent crude was at a premium of $9.42 to WTI.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labour Statistics released the US non-farm payrolls which climbed by 113,000 last month, down from analysts forecast of an 180,000 rise.
In January, the economy added 75,000 new employees. While the unemployment rate slightly dropped from 6.7% to 6.6%, the lowest since 2008.
Oil traders are speculating that the downbeat US non-farm payrolls could persuade the Federal Reserve to slowdown the pace of reducing its easing policy at its next meeting scheduled for March 18-19.
Janet Yellow is expected to speak before Congress tomorrow for the first time as Fed chairman, following the central bank’s statement on Jan 29 to reduce its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion.
This week oil traders will be focusing on the release of crude oil inventories reports from American Petroleum Institute and the US Energy Information.
Meanwhile in Libya, production from the second-largest oil field, Sharara, expanded by 327,000 barrels a day after the re-opening of a pipeline, according to Mohamed Elharari, spokesman for state-run NOC. Libya is holds the biggest crude reserves in Africa and member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
In Iran, talks between the country and western powers over the Persian Gulf’s nuclear program is still in focus and expected to continue next week in Vienna.
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