Oil price analysis: WTI $56.76 +2c, Brent $63.16 -36c, Diff -$6.40 -38c, NG $3.17 -5c

The latest Opec report is so bullish that people can hardly believe their eyes, demand for their crude this year is up 200/- b/d and for next year by 400/- b/d. This would give overall demand for 2018 at 33.4m b/d with a second half of as much as 34m b/d, put into context Opec is currently producing around 32.6m b/d. Now, the market has already priced in quite a lot of this which is I suppose why oil is only just hanging on to these higher levels, much can still go wrong. It is only just over a fortnight to go before the Opec meeting and of course all the other meetings that will happen at the same time with Non-Opec partners and a great deal of optimism is priced into the market. A minimum requirement is an extension of the agreement, let’s hope that the recent rally doesn’t go to their heads…