Oil Settles Near $46 Amid Nigeria Force Majeure, US Fuel Glut

(Bloomberg) - Oil closed near $46 a barrel in New York as the market weighed a force majeure declared by Exxon Mobil Corp. on crude shipments out of Nigeria against excess U.S. oil and product inventories.

Futures rose 0.6 percent after fluctuating between losses and gains in New York. Exxon declared force majeure on shipments of Nigeria’s biggest crude export grade. China processed a record amount of crude in the first half of 2016 as economic growth last quarter exceeded estimates, adding support to the market. U.S. crude production, on the other hand, rose for the first time since early June last week and fuel stockpiles climbed, according to an Energy Information Administration report released on Wednesday.

“We have bullish news. We have bearish news. It’s a moody market,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, said by telephone. “The big bear case is we have this flood of product and it’s going to take some time to overwork that.

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