Oil modestly up despite downward pressure from higher US shale production

At this rate with crude up modestly this morning the week may end up being flat or even up a touch, news in the market has tugged the price this way and that reflecting diverse sympathies. The downward pressure has come from agencies reporting higher US shale production and today the EIA  reported that Brazil’s production had reached 3.3m b/d of liquids so far this year which would make them the 9th largest producer worldwide. The inventory numbers provided food for both bulls and bears, the latter didnt like one bit the huge build in gasoline stocks (not unusual ahead of the Christmas holiday) whereas the bulls liked the crude draw, especially at Cushing. Finally, what matters maybe most and that was the closing down of the Forties pipeline taking 450/- b/d off the market for 2-3 weeks for the UK marker crude.