Oil prices fell in Asia, with increased drilling activity in the US

Oil prices fell Monday in Asia on news of an increase in drilling activity in the US. The market feared that the increase in US shale oil production will prevent the plans of the largest oil-producing countries of the world to reduce its surplus.
Around 0720 GMT, the February futures for light sweet crude oil on the NYMEX traded at 53.74 dollars per barrel, down $ 0.25. March Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange was down 0.40% at 56.87 dollars.
The number in the US oil rigs in the week with the completion of December 30 increased by four units, to 529 units, Baker Hughes data showed. The sharp increase in US shale oil acts as a major threat to OPEC, as it can reduce the proportion of the cartel on the world oil market.
The largest oil-producing OPEC countries, trying to confront this situation, for several years to increase production to reduce oil prices and the crowding out of smaller oil companies from the United States.
February futures for gasoline RBOB on NYMEX fell by $ 0.01 to $ 1.63 per gallon. January gasoil fell in price by 1 cent to $ 1.70 a gallon.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in the past year, oil production in the US decreased by 5.3% to 8.9 million barrels a day.
The reduction in US production has deprived the OPEC cartel and the country is an incentive to keep production at maximum levels and prompted to pay special attention to oil prices. At the end of last year they agreed to reduce production by 1.8 million barrels per day, representing about 2% of global oil production. The Agreement entered into force in January.
"The effectiveness of the OPEC agreement will be visible not earlier than mid-February, so the majority of market participants took a wait"- said Nelson Wang, an analyst at CLSA.
To date, the major oil-producing countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have reported production cuts in January, according to the agreement. "However, while it is just a word. Let's see what the data will show a month", - he added.
Despite the skepticism of market participants in the global oil market trading in this year began on a positive note, according to ANZ Research.
"The next wave of price increases will be possible only after the traders will have evidence of reducing oil production"- ANZ analysts warn. According to them, an increase in drilling activity and production in the United States may restrict oil price increases.