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WTI Drops on Speculation Gain to Month-High Was Excessive

West Texas Intermediate oil fell amid speculation that its increase to the highest price this year was excessive. Futures declined as much as 0.5 percent in New York , trimming a third weekly advance. Government data tomorrow may show a Chinese manufacturing index fell to the lowest in six months, according to a Bloomberg News survey. WTI will probably decrease next week amid concern that emerging economies will slow, curbing fuel demand, according to a separate survey of analysts and traders by Bloomberg. “Traders are locking in gains,” said Michael McCarthy , a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney who predicts investors may sell WTI at about $98.50 a barrel. “Not only because they’ve seen significant rises in their positions but also we’re now approaching several technical resistance points.” WTI for March delivery lost as much as 45 cents to $97.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Crude Rises to Highest Level of 2014 on Growth Signs

West Texas Intermediate crude rose to the highest level of 2014 after data showed that increased consumer spending boosted the U.S. economy. Prices advanced 0.9 percent. Gross domestic product of the world’s biggest oil-consuming country grew at a 3.2 percent annualized pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said. WTI also gained as cold weather pushed heating oil futures to an 11-month high with demand for distillate fuel at the highest level in almost six years. “It’s a pretty good GDP number,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $1.4 billion. “U.S. oil demand is picking up. Cold weather traditionally has always been a bullish factor for crude oil.” WTI for March delivery advanced 87 cents to $98.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement level since Dec. 31. The volume of all futures traded was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural-Gas Futures Drop 8.3%, the Most in Nearly Four Years

Natural-gas futures plunged the most in nearly four years on Thursday, pulling back from a four-year high, after government data showed U.S. stockpiles of the fuel shrank less than expected last week. Weather forecasts also projected more moderate temperatures in the middle of February, contributing to the selling pressure on the heating fuel, even as concerns lingered about tight inventories. Natural gas for March delivery sank 45.4 cents, or 8.3%, to $5.011 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the largest one-day percentage decline since April 29, 2010. The steep drop came a day after the February contract soared more than 10% into expiration on Wednesday. "Even in light of the increased […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC to Trim Shipments as Demand Declines, Oil Movements Says

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will reduce shipments through to mid-February as western demand falls with the end of winter in the northern hemisphere, according to Oil Movements. OPEC, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will reduce sailings by 90,000 barrels a day, or 0.4 percent, to 23.72 million barrels in the four weeks to Feb. 15, the researcher said today in a report. That compares with 23.81 million in the period to Jan. 18. The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador . “There is still a definite reduction in crude demand from here on,” Oil Movements founder Roy Mason said by phone from Halifax, England . “In the west it’s weakening because turnaround season is round the corner,” he said, referring to maintenance at refineries in the U.S. and Europe due to start next month. Global oil demand typically falls […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran expects major foreign oil investments

An Iranian director of international investment said as much as $200 billion in foreign investments may be headed to the nation’s oil sector. Mohammad Mazraati, an investment director at the National Development Fund of Iran, told an investment conference in Tehran the attitude of investors has changed in recent months. He told delegates Wednesday the Iranian oil industry has the potential to attract billions of dollars in new foreign investments because of concessions with the West, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The European Union last week lifted restrictions on insurance and transport of Iranian crude oil. The decision was made in response to Iran’s decision to suspend some nuclear research activity according to the terms of an interim deal reached last year with Western powers. Some of Iran’s oil ambitions are still curtailed by sanctions. The U.S. government said it would hold […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply

Iran — After driving for 15 minutes over the bottom of what was once Iran’s largest lake, a local environmental official stepped out of his truck, pushed his hands deep into his pockets and silently wandered into the great dry plain, as if searching for water he knew he would never find. Just an hour earlier, on a cold winter day here in western Iran, the official, Hamid Ranaghadr, had recalled how as recently as a decade ago, cruise ships filled with tourists plied the lake’s waters in search of flocks of migrating flamingos. Now, the ships are rusting in the mud and the flamingos fly over the remains of the lake on their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurdish exports stop, giving room for political talks

Unions representing the oil sector and other Iraqi workers are pressing Parliament to pass labor and union laws before their current session ends, measures that would end Saddam Hussein-era imposition on worker rights and go far toward addressing outstanding demands by workers of the state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple