Oil falls after Saudi Arabia's announcement

Oil prices fell as the European market opened today, to extend losses for the second consecutive day, after Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy announced that full oil production levels will be restored by the end of this month, while the US oil inventories rose, according to preliminary data by the API, which also puts pressure on oil prices.

WTI fell to $58.68 a barrel, from the opening of $58.83, with an intraday high of $59.41.

Brent fell to $63.96 a barrel, from the opening of $64.24, with a high of $64.98.

Yesterday, WTI closed lower by 4.9%, Brent futures closed lower by 5.7% on profit-taking from a 4-month high and Saudi energy minister's remarks.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman confirmed yesterday that oil production will return to pre-terrorist levels through using Aramco's stockpiles and normal levels will return by the end of this month.

The Saudi minister said the average oil production in September and October will be 9.89 million barrels per day.

Aramco, the world's largest oil company, stated that it regained about 41% of its production capacity at Abqaiq and Khurais area, days after it was hit by an air strike that destroyed vital equipment and triggered a violent shock in global energy markets.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced yesterday in preliminary data that the US oil inventories rose by 0.592 million barrels during the week that ended in September 13th, which is the second weekly rise in the last 3 weeks, beating forecasts of a drop by 2.5 million barrels.

While the official data on inventories and production levels will be released later today, in the US Energy Information Administration's weekly report, with forecasts of drop by 2.1 million barrels for the fifth week.