After recording the worst monthly loss this year in August, the oil markets have kicked off trading in September on a much brighter note on a trifecta of positive developments. Crude oil prices have been inching up after OPEC+ agreed to keep its current production agreement in place , in effect maintaining the 400K bbl/day hike scheduled for October, thus signaling that the markets are healthier than earlier feared. Reuters has also reported that OPEC+ will raise its 2022 oil demand growth forecast to 4.2M bbl/day from its previous outlook of 3.28M bbl/day. Meanwhile, the latest data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that U.S. crude oil inventories fell much more than expected last week despite domestic production climbing to a 15-month-high. U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 7.2M barrels to 425.4M barrels, ~6% below the five-year average. But the most encouraging piece of news yet is that crude […]