Oil Price Digest 27-Dec-16

Crude Oil Markets have been very thin as most shops are preparing to close their books for the year.  On Friday, Brent settled at $ 55.16/bbl, up 11 cents on the day while WTI gained $ 0.07 / bbl to settle at $ 53.02 / bbl. All the producers are saying and showing the right things in preparation for the cut in production starting in January next year.  The extent of adherence remains to be seen.…

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Oil Price Digest 23-Dec-16

Crude Oil Crude markets  rose today, arguably in response to a strong upward revision in US Q3 GDP growth to 3.5%. Brent settled at $ 55.05/bbl, up 55 cents on the day while WTI gained $ 0.46 / bbl to settle at $ 52.95 / bbl.   Trading for the last two weeks of the year is traditionally thin and we are unlikely to see any dramatic movements either way. Naphtha  The Naphtha markets continued to…

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Oil Price Digest 22-Dec-16

Crude Oil Crude markets  continued their yoyo as  Brent fell by $ 0.89 / bbl to settle at $ 54.46/bbl while WTI lost $ 0.81 / bbl to settle at $ 52.49 / bbl. The WTI number is for the changed first nearby contract. The immediate reason for the decline was that the DOE reported a build of 2.3 Million barrels of crude stocks against an expectation of a draw of 2.5 million barrels. API had…

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Oil Price Digest 21-Dec-16

Crude Oil Crude markets were still on the upswing, However, this was pared by news that Libya had reopened some  pipelines which had been blocked for a couple of years.  Readers may recall that Libya has no commitment to contain production.  Brent rose by $ 0.43 / bbl to settle at $ 55.64/bbl while WTI gained $ 0.11 / bbl to settle at $ 52.23 / bbl.   API has reported a draw of 4.2…

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Oil Price Digest 20-Dec-16

Crude Oil Crude markets  moved around a bit as traders placed bets on the basis of this hike. But all in all, markets from here on to the year end will be thin.  Brent fell by $ 0.29 / bbl to settle at $ 55.21/bbl while WTI gained $ 0.22 / bbl to settle at $ 52.12 / bbl. The rise may have something to do with the expiry of the prompt future which happens…

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