Oil trading higher at $46.38

Brent oil is trading higher at $46.38 a barrel this morning advancing beyond its limit in five months as US industry data showed a further decline in crude stockpiles.

Oil is grinding further in the front end of the curve at least for now according to an email note from Goldman Sachs and it is further good news for cash strapped Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy which fixed its 2016 budget benchmark price at $38 a barrel.

This followed a day in which the World Bank painted a slightly improved prospects for the market, saying crude oil price will average $41 a barrel this year, compared with an earlier forecast of $37.

In the meantime, Venezuela has proposed that non-OPEC oil producers attend the group’s June meeting in Vienna to continue “dialogue and coordination,” according to a letter sent by the South American country’s oil minister to the Qatari energy minister, who is also the current OPEC president.

“We’ve formally proposed to continue Doha discussions in Vienna,” Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino told Reuters.

Major oil players continue to see their fortunes decline amidst an excruciating price collapse which began last year.

In the latest serving, Exxon Mobil Corp. lost the gold-plated credit rating it had held since the Great Depression to the worst oil crash in a generation.

Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday stripped Exxon of its highest AAA measure of credit-worthiness, cutting it to AA+, the same as the US government.

It’s a defeat for Exxon, which sought to retain the rating after S&P placed it on notice in February.

Before the downgrade, Exxon shared the distinction with just two other companies: Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft Corp.