OPEC shipments are down sharply in August - report

PetroLogistics says supply set to fall 419K bpd in August

PeteroLogistics tracks OPEC shipments and reports that exports from the 14 OPEC countries subject to quotas fell a 'whopping' 750k barrels per day through the first half of the month. They expect a rebound but they forecast that exports will average 419k bpd lower than in July, when they peaked for the year.

There is no word on which country is responsible for the drop but a safe bet is Saudi Arabia, which said its exports would be almost 1m bpd below year-ago levels.

This is good news for crude. On Friday, crude prices rose the most since November. Here are five reasons for that rise (make it six with the news on exports).

Not much is happening in crude today, with WTI down 16-cents to $48.35.