Month: January 2015

The death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud comes at a critical point for the kingdom’s oil policy. The WSJ’s Andrew Peaple examines what oil watchers are looking for. Crude-oil futures rebounded in Asian trade Friday after news of the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and marginal improvement in China’s manufacturing data. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $47.10 a barrel, up $0.79 in midmorning trade on the Globex electronic session. Brent crude for March delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.84 to $49.36 a barrel. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud died at the age of around 90, according to a royal court statement early Friday morning. The statement also said that Abdullah’s half-brother, Crown Prince Salman, who is 79 years old, was declared king and Prince Muqrin, 69, became crown prince. […]

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Oil rose after the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia , the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Futures rallied as much as 3.1 percent in New York and 2.6 percent in London after the Saudi royal court announced the death in a statement. Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz will succeed Abdullah on the throne. The kingdom, the world’s largest crude exporter, led OPEC’s decision to maintain its oil-production quota at a meeting in November, exacerbating a global glut that’s driven prices lower. “The passing of King Abdullah is going to increase uncertainty and increase volatility in oil prices in the near term,” Neil Beveridge , a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said by phone. “I wouldn’t expect a change in policy in the near term to be known, but the passing comes at a challenging time for Saudi Arabia.” Oil […]

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices jumped on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades. Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king in the world’s top oil exporter. Salman named his half-brother Muqrin as heir, moving to forestall any succession crisis at a moment when Saudi Arabia faces unprecedented turmoil on its borders and in oil markets. Brent crude futures rose to a high of $49.80 a barrel shortly after opening before easing back to $49.30 a barrel by 0650 GMT, up 78 cents. U.S. WTI crude futures were at $47, down from a high of $47.76 earlier in the session. "This little spike in prices is understandable. But this is a selling opportunity in our view. It should be sold off quickly and it won’t last […]

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New York (Platts)–22Jan2015/410 pm EST/2110 GMT NYMEX March crude settled $1.47 lower at $46.31/b Thursday after US Energy Information Administration data showed a 10.1-million-barrel increase last week in US commercial crude stocks. A weaker euro pushed ICE March Brent 51 cents lower at $48.52/b. NYMEX refined products ended mixed. Prompt ULSD settled down 85 points at $1.6379/b, while March RBOB closed 53 points higher at $1.3308/gal. A combination of strong crude production and a drop in refinery runs pushed crude inventories higher. Analysts surveyed Tuesday expected crude stocks to have increased only 2.5 million barrels. Article continues below… Oilgram Price Report is a daily report that covers market changes, market fundamentals and factors driving prices. Oilgram Price Report also brings a vast array of Platts international prices for crude and products, netback tables, and market critical data. The preliminary estimate of weekly crude production was 9.19 million b/d, down […]

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An oil refinery operated by OAO Lukoil, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. ENLARGE Photo: Bloomberg News DAVOS—Low oil prices have roiled oil exploration and production companies, but chief executives from a wide swath of the global economy, gathered here for the annual World Economic Forum are looking forward to a boost from the drop. Oil prices are down more than 50% since June, amid a supply glut partly due to booming American shale-oil production. In November, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries chose to maintain its output levels, saying it wouldn’t risk market share as non-OPEC producers, from the U.S. to Russia, continue to pump flat out. That has slammed big oil firms and companies that provide services for the sector. A number of big companies, from ConocoPhillips to BP PLC, have signaled they will be cutting back capital spending. On Thursday, OAO Lukoil Holdings President Vagit Alekperov said […]

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Markets struggle to make sense of QE program unveiled Thursday by the European Central Bank. UPI/John Angelillo NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI) — Oil price indices were mixed early in the Thursday session as traders tried to make sense of the bond-buying initiative from the European Central Bank. Beginning in March, the ECB said it would purchase bonds valued at more than $65 billion per month through September 2016 as part of a so-called quantitative easing program meant to stimulate the struggling European economy. ECB President Mario Draghi said low inflation and the secondary effects of low crude oil prices meant it was time to act to save the ailing eurozone from further calamity . "Thus, today the adoption of further balance sheet measures has become warranted to achieve our price stability objective," he said in a statement. Inflation in an already struggling eurozone turned negative in December, driven […]

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Oil traded below $50 a barrel in London for a third day as investors awaited a European Central Bank decision on starting a quantitative-easing program. Brent futures fell as much as 1.1 percent. The dollar approached an 11-year high against the euro, undermining the appeal of dollar-priced commodities for protecting against inflation, amid speculation the ECB will today introduce large-scale bond purchases. Oil also declined on estimates that U.S. crude inventories expanded for a second week. “The ECB will rule market sentiment today,” Olivier Jakob , managing director at consultants Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland , said by e-mail. “Some QE is already priced in, hence directionally crude can go both ways” once the ECB’s intentions are clear, he said. Brent for March settlement was 10 cents lower at $48.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange as of 9:45 a.m. London time, having earlier fallen as low […]

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Oil prices won’t recover to $100 a barrel once a current rout is reversed, said the head of research at Gunvor Group Ltd., a firm trading more than 2.5 million barrels of crude and fuels each day. Saudi Arabia , the nation leading OPEC in defending its share of global oil market, will resist $100 to $120 a barrel crude, he said, without specifying for how long. Brent oil, the global benchmark, collapsed by almost half last year as Saudi Arabia and others in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries committed to maintain output amid a global surplus. U.S. output is the highest in three decades as drillers unlock stores in shale formations. “It will be interesting to see how the Saudis react when prices start rising again,” Fyfe said. “They won’t want prices to rebound to $100-$120 as they’d be back to square one.” Global demand will grow […]

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By Timothy Puko Natural gas is in a steady retreat Thursday as concerns about a long-term bear market are pushing traders back into a selloff. Natural gas for February delivery is down 7 cents, or 2.4%, at $2.904 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading volumes are light, but analysts said that will probably change and volatility is likely to pick back up after the federal government’s weekly storage update, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Stockpiles likely fell by 227 billion cubic feet of gas during the week ended Jan. 16, according to the average forecast of 19 analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. That would be among the 20 largest draws on storage in EIA records dating back to 1994. But many traders have been looking past that and have focused on the chance that record supply could lead to a […]

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