Short covering, international oil prices followed the rebound of the world's major stock markets. However, OPEC downgraded its oil demand forecast, and the increase of American oil drilling platforms restrained the increase in oil prices. New York Mercantile Futures Exchange West Texas Light Oil futures settled at $54.87 a barrel in September 2019, up $0.40 per barrel, or 0.7 percent, from the previous trading day, with a trading range of $54.26-55.67 per barrel; London Intercontinental Exchange Brent Crude Oil futures settled at $58.64 per barrel in October 2019, up from the previous trading day. The daily gain was $0.41 per barrel, or 0.7 per cent, with a trading range of $58.28-59.5 per barrel.

Central banks have again pledged additional stimulus measures to boost the world's major stock markets. Analysts believe that Fed Chairman Powell's speech at next week's annual meeting of the Federal Reserve in Jackson Hall, Wyoming, may be the next important catalyst for stock and bond markets. European and American stock markets rose on Friday, with the Dow rising 306.62 points, or 1.2 percent, on Friday. The S&P 500 index rose 41.08 points, or 1.4%. The two indices have fallen for three consecutive weeks, down about 5% from last month's historic highs. The Stoxx 600 index rose 1.2%, and a senior ECB official said that the stimulus package would be announced at the next policy meeting in September, and should exceed investors'expectations.

In three months, OPEC downgraded its forecast for global oil daily demand in 2019 for the second time, and downgraded its forecast for global economic growth, pointing out that the Sino-US trade war has brought uncertainties to economic growth. OPEC predicts that global oil demand growth will slow to 1.1 million barrels a day this year, a decrease of 40,000 barrels compared with the previous report, after the US Energy Information Agency and the International Energy Agency downgraded their global oil demand forecasts respectively. The OPEC report pointed out that the unexpected increase in U.S. oil inventories, trade tensions and the reversal of the yield curve triggered wider unrest. OPEC also lowered its supply growth expectations for non-OPEC oil-producing countries in 2019 and 2020. The OPEC report concluded that the surge in U.S. production, which has become an energy exporter, has raised concerns about oversupply, and investors may view the decline in supply and demand growth expectations as a sign of weak consumption as inventories grow. OPEC also highlighted the challenges it faces in 2020 as non-OPEC producers increased production, thus providing a basis for continuing to implement OPEC-led production reduction agreements.

International oil prices fluctuated this week with news and inventories. On Tuesday, it was reported that the United States postponed tariff increases on some products until December, with international oil prices rising by more than 4%; on Wednesday, foreign media misread China's economic data and international oil prices fell by 3%; on Thursday, the market feared that trade disputes would escalate and international oil prices would continue to fall; and on Friday, international oil prices rebounded moderately. In the past week, the first month futures of light and low sulfur crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.37 U.S. dollars, or 0.68%. The average settlement price of a barrel was 55.32 U.S. dollars, up 2.030 U.S. dollars, up from 57.1 U.S. dollars a barrel to 54.47 U.S. dollars a barrel, and the trading range was 53.54-57.47 U.S. dollars. Brent crude oil futures on the London Intercontinental Exchange rose 0.11 U.S. dollars, or 0.19%. The average settlement price was 59.24 U.S. dollars per barrel, up 1.07 U.S. dollars from the previous week, with the highest settlement price of 61.3 U.S. dollars per barrel and the lowest settlement price of 58.23 U.S. dollars per barrel; trading range was 57.67-61.50 U.S. dollars.

The number of active oil drilling platforms in the United States increased for the first time in seven weeks. According to data released by General Electric's Baker Hughes Oilfield Service, 770 U.S. online drilling wells were drilled in the week ending Aug. 16, six more than the previous week, and 99 fewer than the same period last year. The report shows that the Canaan Woodford Basin (CANA WOODFORD) has increased by one basin; Colorado's DJ-Niobrara basin by one; Texas's Eagle Ford basin by one; Permian basin by three; Ohio's Utica basin by two; Williston basin by one; and One more; 27 U.S. offshore platforms this week, two more than the previous week; six more than the same period last year. Baker Hughes data also showed that 165 natural gas drillings were drilled in the United States during the same period, four less than the previous week, and 21 less than the same period last year. There are 907 terrestrial oil and gas platforms in the United States, two less than the previous week and 127 less than the same period last year. The total number of oil and gas drilling platforms in the United States is 935, one more than the previous week; 122 less than the same period last year.

Concerned that the continuation of trade disputes may lead to slower economic growth, BNP Paribas lowered its oil price forecast by $55 per barrel in 2019, down $8 from the previous forecast, and the average Brent crude oil price is expected to be $62 per barrel, down $9 from the previous forecast.

Speculators continue to increase net bulls in U.S. crude oil futures, reduce net bulls in Brent crude oil futures and narrow the gap between European and American benchmark crude oil futures. In the week ending August 13, speculators held 426,330 net bulls on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the London Intercontinental Exchange for U.S. light crude oil and Brent crude oil futures and options, 6,752 fewer than in the previous week, equivalent to 6,752,000 barrels of crude oil.