據路透社4月28日報道，由于全球最大的石油交易所交易基金拋售了其在當前月度合約中的頭寸，美國原油期貨價格繼續下跌，一度跌至每桶10.63美元。

阿聯酋時間上午11點02分，WTI價格下跌13.07%，至每桶11.11美元，這再度引發了人們對油價可能跌至負值的擔憂。

由紐約梅隆銀行(Bank of New York Mellon)管理的美國石油基金(United States Oil Fund)追蹤近月期合約，并在過去兩周內多次改變其投資頭寸。

WTI下一個月合約價差擴大，7月期貨價格為每桶17.93美元。與此同時，布倫特原油價格下跌4.35%，至每桶19.12美元——受WTI原油價格暴跌影響，該基準價格昨日跌破20美元。

瑞士銀行(UBS)大宗商品分析師喬瓦尼?斯陶諾沃(Giovanni Staunovo)表示:“油價處于多年來的低點，正將石油市場的再平衡推向產油國最痛苦的階段。”

世界銀行估計，過去四周全球陸上石油庫存增加了近1.32億桶。與此同時，海上石油儲量也增加了6000萬桶。在愛沙尼亞等地，石油存儲空間已經耗盡，WTI在俄克拉荷馬州庫欣的儲能將在5月份達到極限。

斯陶諾沃表示:“由于存儲緩沖區有限，我們需要強制停產。”伍德麥肯茲表示，自4月24日起，總計每日232萬桶的停產措施已經開始實施。截止第二季度末，油田停產量預計將超過500萬桶/天。

作為歐佩克+協議的一部分，石油生產國在5月1日協議生效前就已開始減產。沙特阿拉伯正將日產量從創紀錄的1230萬桶削減至850萬桶，而科威特也已開始削減產量，以重新平衡庫存。

此前，產油國達成一致意見，計劃從5月開始將石油產量削減970萬桶/天，為期兩個月，并逐步削減產量至2022年。

鄒勤 摘譯自 路透社

原文如下：

US crude futures fall further triggering fears of slipping back into negative territory

US crude futures continued their slump, falling as low as $10.63 per barrel in intra-day trading as the biggest oil exchange traded fund sold its holdings in the current monthly contract.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US crude was down 13.07 per cent trading at $11.11 per barrel at 11.02am UAE time, reviving fears that it could plunge below sub-zero levels seen last week.

The United States Oil Fund, administered by the Bank of New York Mellon, tracks near month front contracts and has changed its investment position multiple times over the last two weeks.

The spread between WTI's next monthly contract has widened, with futures for July trading at $17.93 per barrel.

Meanwhile, Brent under which two-thirds of the world's physical oil is traded, was down 4.35 per cent at $19.12 per barrel.

The benchmark, impacted by WTI's nosedive, slipped below $20 yesterday.

"Oil prices at a multi-year low are pushing the rebalancing of the oil market into the most painful phase for producers," said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at Swiss bank UBS.

The bank estimates on-land oil inventories have increased by nearly 132 million barrels over the last four weeks globally. Floating storage, meanwhile, has risen by 60m barrels. Storage space is already exhausted in some locations such as Estonia with WTI's physical delivery point at Cushing, Oklahoma set to reach its capacity limits in May.

"With limited storage buffers, forced production shut-ins are needed," said Mr Staunovo.

Production shut-ins amounting to 2.32 million barrels per day (m pbd) have already been brought into effect as of April 24, according to Wood Mackenzie. Total shut-ins are expected to exceed 5m bpd by the end of the second quarter.

Oil producers, as part of the Opec+ pact, have already begun cutting back output ahead of the May 1 kick-off. Saudi Arabia is rolling back production from a record 12.3m bpd to 8.5m bpd, while Kuwait has also started cutting back to rebalance inventories.

The producers agreed to trim 9.7m bpd of output for two months starting May, with tapered cuts in place until 2022.