Oil Price Digest

Crude Oil Oil prices dropped heavily on Wednesday after a bearish stock report out of the DOE.  Brent settled $ 1.72 lower at $47.00 /bbl. WTI also settled $ 1.73 lower at $44.73 /bbl. Yesterday, we had remarked that were the DOE to reinforce the bearish data published by API, we expected the $ 47.00 area to be tested severely.  Seldom have a commentator’s words been so prophetic. Brent crude moved to $ 47.00 /…

Crude Oil Oil prices settled higher on Tuesday after OPEC detailed supply cuts around the world. Brent settled 43 cents higher at $48.72 /bbl while WTI settled up 38 cents at $46.46 /bbl. However, prices edged lower after the release of bearish API Inventory data which saw a build in crude oil inventory as against expectations of a drawdown.   The world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia outlined cuts to customers in July that included a reduction of…

Crude Oil Oil prices continued to inch upwards yesterday. Brent closed 14 cents up at $48.29 /bbl while WTI rose by 25 cents to close at $46.08 /bbl. Crude prices rose fairly sharply at the London open on news from France that they propose to reduce their dependence on nuclear supply substantially.  Nevertheless, this news could not take prices much past $ 49.00 / bbl. During New York trading hours, prices gradually retraced to their…

Crude Oil Oil futures settled marginally higher on Friday. Brent closed 29 cents up at $48.15 /bbl while WTI rose by just 19 cents to close at $45.83 /bbl. Yesterday, we had remarked that we had expected prices to end lower. We apparently did not account for more tensions, real or perceived in the Persian Gulf which provided dramatic support to prices.  Having said that, both contracts lost over 3.6% on the week and have…