Oil Price Digest

Crude Oil Crude Oil broke past the $ 70 / bbl in late trading in USA in the face of ostensibly bearish data released by the DOE. Brent futures settled 67 cents higher at $70.63 /bbl. WTI gained $ 1.14 to settle at $65.61 /bbl.  The rally has been attributed to the fact that although the decline in crude oil stocks less than expected, it was the tenth in a row, a record streak. The…

Crude Oil Oil rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday, boosted by healthy world economic growth prospects and expectations for continued production curbs by OPEC, Russia and their allies. Brent futures settled 93 cents higher at $69.96 /bbl. WTI also rose 90 cents to settle at $63.52 /bbl.  The rally was apparently in thin volume indicating a speculative charge in the hope of a another significant draw in crude oil stocks. However, the market is…

Crude Oil Oil settled higher on Monday after dollar fluctuations and the restart of some Libyan oil fields caused the market to vacillate, with prices testing lower before rallying. Brent futures settled 42 cents higher at $69.03 /bbl while WTI gained 25 cents to settle at $63.62 /bbl.   Earlier in the day, resumption of output from Libya’s As-Sarah fields weighed on the market. However, during the US trading day markets were boosted by by a…

Crude Oil Oil prices posted their first weekly loss in five weeks after settling lower for the second straight session on Friday, as traders fretted over a sharp rebound in U.S. production. Brent futures settled 70 cents lower at $68.61 /bbl while WTI eased 58 cents to $63.37 per barrel.  The narrowing of the Brent-WTI spread arguably reflects the easing of supplies from the Forties pipeline. For the week, WTI crude fell roughly 1.5%, the…

Crude Oil Oil prices had a surprisingly muted reaction to what was apparently bullish data released by the DOE. Brent futures settled 7 cents lower at $69.31 /bbl while WTI eased 2 cents to $63.95 per barrel.  The reaction was even more surprising since Cushing reported the largest draw down since 2004. OPEC’s monthly report showed that production remained largely flat at 32.4 mb/d in December. Output growth from Nigeria (+76 kb/d) and Angola (+45…