Crude remains volatile

Dubai: Crude oil showed its continued volatility on Wednesday when wildfires in Canada, which have forced the largest-ever evacuation and forced producers to cut production, forced the price to dramatically jump and then fall in the space of an hour.

Brent crude prices fluxuated from between a low of $44.77 to a high of $46.01. At 7:25 p.m. UAE, time Brent was trading at $45.25 per barrel, just marginally up from its $45.22 opening. Crude prices have recovered more than 70 per cent from a 12 year low struck in mid-January, when prices hit $28.

“Oil expected to be rangebound during this current quarter with the risk skewed to the downside. Towards year-end we should see it approach $55 before moving higher into 2017,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy, Saxo Bank.

Analysts have been betting on a rebalancing in the second half of the year due to production issues in Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela even they expect the Opec output remains at the same level.