Crude Oil With the US closed for Martin Luther King Day yesterday, crude was generally moving within a narrow band. Brent moved up 41 cents to settle at $ 55.86 / bbl. While WTI did not record a settle, it was generally in sync. with Brent. Yesterday saw Saudi Arabia talking extensively about how it is firm on maintaining production at a lower level. The first directional data we will get will be the…
Read MoreCrude Oil Oil prices saw some more profit taking happening on the last day of the week. Brent fell by 56 cents to $55.45 /bbl and WTI fell by 64 cents to $52.37 /bbl. This week promises to have more excitement as speculation continues on the actual supplies available. On the positive side we are hearing comments that even 80% compliance by OPEC will ensure support to crude prices. Arguably even 50% is acceptable. The flip…
Read MoreCrude Oil Oil continued to climb up aided by repeated statements by producers that they were adhering to the committed cuts. Brent rose by $ 0.91 to $56.01/bbl while WTI rose by $ 0.76 to 53.01 /bbl Another bullish news in the market was that China expects its demand for crude oil to rise to 12 million bpd in 2017. We need to see evidence of the cuts and their impact at ground level. The coming…
Read MoreCrude Oil Oil resumed its upward trend in the face of bearish data to give a clear sign that the bulls still hope for a good overall compliance. Brent rose by $ 1.46 to $55.10/bbl while WTI rose by $ 1.43 to 52.25 /bbl Crude Stocks in the US rose by 4.1 million barrels as compared to an expectation of 1.2 million build. Gasoline inventories rose by 5 Million barrels (exp. 1.6) and distillates rose by…
Read MoreCrude Oil Oil continued its downward correction yesterday and not even a revision in expectations for cold weather for Jan could stem the fall. Brent fell by $ 1.30 to $53.64/bbl while WTI fell by $ 1.14 to 50.82 /bbl The drop was attributed to an increase in strength of the US Dollar (one which we did not see), and apparently poor implementation of OPEC cuts. One report which we saw last evening (albeit extremely…
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