Oil prices rebound amidst equities rebound

Oil prices rebounded here on Tuesday after global equities rebounded and remained relatively stable following sharp falls last week.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $59.44 a barrel at 0103 GMT. That was up 15 cents, or 0.25 percent, from their last settlement.

Brent crude futures were at $62.78 per barrel, up 19 cents, or 0.3 percent, from the previous close.

Oil prices recovered during as the week started after a fall in prices resulted as a result of decline in global equities. The market has been slowly yet surely returning towards stability. Stock markets were roiled last week by some of the sharpest falls on record, shaking confidence across markets.

Demand continues to grow across the globe, according to OPEC estimates, the demand is set to cross 1.599 million bpd during 2018. The rising consumption is being met by increased output from outside OPEC, the Middle East dominated producer club said.

OPEC said the United States and other outside producers would boost supply by 1.4 million bpd this year, up 250,000 bpd from last month and the third consecutive rise from 870,000 bpd in November.

However, all is not well in the global supply markets, EIA data shows that world oil markets were in a supply deficit in 2017, due in large part to the OPEC-led supply cuts, but the data shows an expected return of a surplus for large parts of this year.