Year: 2017

Crude Oil Crude prices continued to climb and closed higher yesterday supported by seemingly bullish DOE weekly inventory data and the continued outage of the North Sea Forties pipeline system. Brent settled 76 cents higher at $64.56 /bbl while WTI settled 53 cents higher at $58.09 /bbl.  WTI has been finding strength on the back of falling crude inventories in the U.S. which at 436.5 million bbls, are now at their lowest since October 2015. As…

Crude Oil Crude prices ended higher yesterday as news of Saudi forces intercepting a Yemeni missile raised concerns of increased geopolitical uncertainty. Brent settled marginally 39 cents higher at $63.80 /bbl while WTI settled 30 cents higher at $57.46 / bbl. Markets are still torn between the increase in shale production and the stoppage of the Forties pipeline. That news of the Yemeni missile did not spook the markets much is because of the premium already…

Crude Oil The Brent – WTI spread continued to widen as Brent settled marginally (18 cents) higher at $63.41 /bbl while WTI settled 14 cents lower at $57.16 / bbl. The difference in the direction of settles underpins the major causes driving the respective markers. While the Brent future is primarily affected by the Forties shutdown, the WTI future reflects the growth in US production and also the general sentiment as regards shortage of crude supplies.…

Crude Oil Oil settled on a mixed note on Friday, with prices notching their third-consecutive weekly loss amid concerns over rising production in the U.S.  Brent eased 8 cents to at $63.23 /bbl while WTI settled up 26 cents to settle at $57.30 / bbl. Both Brent and WTI however, posted their third straight weekly loss with Brent easing 0.3% and WTI 0.1%. Speculators cut their long positions in WTI futures and options for the 2nd…

Crude Oil Oil prices rose and settled higher on Thursday even as the market was devoid of any fresh news that could provide a clear direction. WTI settled up 44 cents at $57.04 /bbl while Brent settled up 87 cents at $63.31 /bbl. In other news, The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently published a report stating that it expects 2018 to be “a closely balanced market” with a surplus of about 200,000 bbls per day in the first half of…