Commodity Watch Indonesia: Coal & Crude Oil
The coal price weakened at the end of trading on Monday (24/07). Coal futures (January 2018 contracts, the most active contract on the Rotterdam commodities exchange), fell 1.84 percent to USD $72.38 per metric ton on Monday, reversing from their performance on the preceding trading session (Friday 21/07) when coal prices rose 0.45 percent to USD $73.74 per metric ton.
Contrary to the performance of coal, global crude oil prices edged up on Monday (24/07) supported by the decision of OPEC giant Saudi Arabia to reduce crude exports in August in an effort to help ease the global crude excess, thus boost prices.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed higher 57 cents, or about 1.3 percent, to USD $46.34 a barrel, while Brent crude oil gained 54 cents, or 1.1 percent, to USD $48.60 a barrel.
Quoted by Reuters on Tuesday (25/07), Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said his country will limit crude exports by 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, or nearly 1 million bpd below last year's level.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also stated that an additional 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil could be removed from the market if compliance with a global deal to cut output was 100 percent.
Both energy ministers attended a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) along with a number of non-OPEC producers in St. Petersburg (Russia) on Monday. Ministers discussed their earlier deal to cut production by 1.8 million bpd from January 2017 to March 2018.
Falih said that OPEC and its non-OPEC partners are committed to reduce oil production on the longer term, if necessary. However, he also urged all countries to comply with the agreement to cut production.
OPEC members Nigeria and Libya have been exempted from the production cut deal. Market watchers therefore remain concerned that production from both countries could offset the impact of global reductions.
At the OPEC meeting in Russia there were no discussions about deeper production cuts. OPEC secretary general Mohammad Barkindo said Nigeria is not planning to surpass its production target of 1.8 million bpd.
Meanwhile, Halliburton Co. expects the US shale oil drilling boom to ease next year. This would also support oil prices.
Coal Futures (January 2018 Contract):
| 18 July |
19 July | 20 July |
21 July | 24 July | |
| Price (USD/ton) |
73.48 | 73.21 | 73.41 | 73.74 | 72.38 |
Source: Bisnis Indonesia