Oil Spikes Near $50 On Libya Turmoil Despite Highest OPEC Production Since 2008

In its ubiquitous manner, crude futures decided to try and run the stops at the US equity open but were unable to get to $50 (49.984 in July WTI) before fading back a little. Ths driver – according to the narrative-du-jour – is turmoil in Libya and ongoing Nigeria and France disruptions, which are both offsetting a surge in OPEC production to its highest level since 2008 in the minds of the machines. “The market is pretty much on hold until we get all this information,” says Deutsche Bank’s Jens Pedersen of the data dump and OPEC meetings this week. “We need to get that out of the way to see if there is a reason for oil to go higher.”
OPEC production rose to 32.575m bbl/day – its highest since 2008…
And the result – a machine-driven meltup, which however failed to tag $50 stops for now…
As Bloomberg reporets, key stories shaping mkt today: Libya guards take control of town linked to 2 oil ports from Islamic State militants. French refinery strikes continue; potential for strike action seen in Norway, Brazil

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 05/31/2016.