Category:

Rebounding NYMEX crude settles $1.41/b higher on strong fundamentals

NYMEX October crude settled $1.41 higher at $95.96/barrel Friday amid still-strong fundamentals and a repricing-in of geopolitical risk. ICE October Brent lagged slightly, setting 73 cents higher at $103.19/b. Products finished in positive territory as well, led by NYMEX September RBOB, which settled 3 cents higher at $2.7827/gal. September ULSD closed 79 points higher at $2.8569/gal. "Fundamentals here are very strong, as US inventories continue to decline," Citi Futures Perspectives energy analyst Tim Evans said. "Runs look very strong, and have held up the downtrend in total stocks. And this has persisted longer than many had anticipated." US commercial crude stocks have fallen steadily over the summer amid record refinery runs, and despite expectations that fall maintenance is coming soon, still-high runs represents real crude demand. "There was talk a month ago about runs having peaked, but that hasn’t happened so quickly," Evans said. Total US crude runs did […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Prices Snap Four-Week Losing Streak

NEW YORK—Oil prices posted their first weekly gain in five weeks as rising tension in Ukraine made market watchers nervous about additional sanctions on Russia and positive U.S. economic data lifted demand expectations. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.41, or 1.5%, to $95.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since Aug. 20. Prices rose 2.5% this week but lost 2.3% for the month. Brent settled up 73 cents, or 0.7%, at $103.19 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Prices rose 0.9% for the week and fell 2.7% this month. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Thursday more than 1,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in Ukraine . The death toll has risen dramatically, the United Nations said Friday , with an average of 36 people killed each day between July 16 and Aug. 17 and a total of nearly 2,600 people dead […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Crude Oil Caps First Weekly Gain in Six on Economy

West Texas Intermediate crude capped the first weekly gain in more than a month on speculation an improving U.S. economy will boost fuel demand. Prices rose for a fourth day after touching a seven-month low on Aug. 25. U.S. consumer confidence rose in August, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final sentiment index showed today. The economy expanded more than previously forecast in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Brent gained on escalating tension between Ukraine and Russia. “Economic numbers continue to point to a slowly improving economic picture, and it means better fuel demand,” said Gene McGillian , an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford , Connecticut . “The market kind of overextended itself when it slid to the seven-month low. We do have new concern surrounding the fighting going on in Ukraine.” WTI for October delivery advanced $1.41, or 1.5 percent, to $95.96 a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural Gas Rises to Six-Week High Ahead of Hotter Weather

By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices gained for a third straight session as forecasts for hotter weather drove expectations of higher demand in the coming weeks. Natural gas for October delivery settled up 2.1 cents, or 0.5%, at $4.065 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest price since July 16. Prices gained 4.7% this week and 5.8% this month. Forecasts are calling for a bout of late-summer heat in the southern and eastern U.S. heading into the first week of September, which is expected to boost demand for gas-powered electricity to run air-conditioning units. "Weather patterns have been more favorable recently" to natural-gas demand, said NatGasWeather.com in a note, but "the end of summer is upon us. …Prices are not looking too far into the future." Storage data released Thursday showed that stockpiles grew by 75 billion cubic feet in the week ended […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EIA: Tight Oil Stabilizes Brent Crude Prices

Rigzone Staff 8/29/2014 URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134780/EIA_Tight_Oil_Stabilizes_Brent_Crude_Prices World events that threatened global oil production and distribution are scarcely having an effect on oil prices in the United States. The current period of stability, which contrasts with historic spikes that occurred during periods of strife in other regions, is due largely to the shale revolution, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a recent report. The price of Brent crude oil has been noteworthy for having fluctuated within a narrow range of $5/barrel (bbl) for 13 consecutive months. This was during a period of significant turmoil in Libya and Iraq. The lack of movement during that time is in sharp contrast with Brent crude oil prices for the period between early 2008 and the middle of 2013, when prices hit a high of $125/bbl in March 2012, and a low of $95/bbl just three months later, the EIA report said. Historically, commodity […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

IEA: Policy uncertainty hurting renewables

IEA published its third annual mid-term renewable market report , which shows total combined output from renewable energy resources in 2013 was on par with electricity from natural gas. By 2020, renewable energy generation should account for 26 percent of total electricity output, but annual growth in new renewable power begins to stabilize next year. IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said renewable energy resources are a "necessary" part of global energy security measures, though policy and regulatory uncertainty puts new low-carbon power generation at risk. "This calls for a serious reflection on market design needed to achieve a more sustainable world energy mix," she said in a statement Thursday. Renewable energy in economies outside of North American and Europe are the largest source of growth through 2020, but they only meet 35 percent of the electricity needs. Because some of those economies, notably China, are growing faster […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

OPEC Oil Output Hits One-Year High in August on Nigeria

OPEC crude oil production increased to a one-year high in August, led by surging output in Nigeria, a Bloomberg survey showed. Production by the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 891,000 barrels a day to 31.033 million, according to the survey of oil companies , producers and analysts. Last month’s total was revised 80,000 barrels a day lower to 30.142 million because of changes to the Nigerian and Iranian estimates. Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Angola led gains as new deposits came online, security improved and field maintenance programs ended. Iran and Venezuela were the only members to record production declines. “They are letting it rip,” John Kilduff , a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, said by phone. “The geopolitical scares out there have supported the market some but any resolution would remove that. We’re heading for a definite […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil-Field Flows to Libya’s Key Port Resume Despite Conflict

A view of the anchorage at the Es Sider export terminal in Ras Lanuf, west of Benghazi in Libya. Reuters Libya’s largest oil port Es Sider is now receiving supplies from oil fields after the terminal resumed exports despite intense fighting in the capital of Tripoli. An oil official in Tripoli said late Thursday that the Waha Oil Co. was supplying 22,000 barrels a day to the Es Sider terminal in eastern Libya, after oil in storage at the port started to be shipped last week, ending a one-year stoppage. The Waha Oil Co. is a partnership between Libya’s National Oil Co. and U.S. companies Marathon Oil Corp. , Hess Corp. and ConocoPhillips . It had previously been producing about 3,000 barrels a day used for maintenance and small supplies to the neighboring Brega oil terminal, the official said. But all Waha Oil Co.’s oil flows have now been […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya’s Acting Oil Minister Says He Has Been Reinstated

By Benoit Faucon Libya’s government has cancelled a decision to dismiss its acting oil minister, the official himself and the National Oil Co.’s Facebook page said Friday. The news comes amid mounting political confusion in Libya after a militia that took control of Tripoli’s airport disputed the legitimacy of an interim government now based in the Eastern city of Tobruk. Omar Shakmak, Libya’s deputy oil minister, who was acting as the country’s most senior oil official, said last week he was resigning at the request of Libya’s interim prime minister Abdullah al-Thani. Libyan oil officials said at the time he had been replaced by NOC’s head Mustafa Sanalla on a temporary basis. But Mr. Shakmak, who has headed the oil ministry as a caretaker since the departure of Libya’s former oil minister Abdelbari el-Arousi in January, said he had been asked to return to his position by Mr. al-Thani. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

With Iran Talks at Crossroads, U.S. Levels New Sanctions

WASHINGTON—The U.S. imposed a range of sanctions designed to exert new pressure against Iran and deter international business leaders from circumventing Washington’s existing punitive measures as talks continue over the country’s nuclear program. The steps announced Friday come amid growing concern in the Obama administration that Iran isn’t ready to make the concessions needed to clinch a nuclear deal. The U.S. Treasury and State departments said the sanctions will punish a bank that provides U.S. dollar bills to the Iranian government; a group that helped Iran evade sanctions on oil and petrochemicals; several transportation firms that helped deliver weapons and personnel to the Assad regime in Syria; and some individuals and organizations that support Iran’s nuclear program. The new measures put the U.S. in the delicate position of imposing new sanctions at the same time it is rolling back a series of existing measures following initial progress in international […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple