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Crude oil prices slide on last day of 2014

Crude oil prices moving toward historic lows as traders inch closer to ringing in 2015 UPI/John Angelillo NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) — Crude oil prices were pummeled in the early Wednesday session on dueling reports showing growing evolution in the U.S. oil market. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. price index, fell nearly 2.8 percent below the close from the previous session to trade at $52.61 per barrel for the February contract. Brent, the global benchmark, was off nearly 3 percent from the previous day to trade at $57.90 per barrel. Crude oil prices this week saw a brief rally early Monday on word oil storage tanks in Libya were burning out of control following rebel action. Once a major market swinger, the glut of oil from the United States may be driving market mechanisms more than Libyan shortages. The American Petroleum Institute this week said total U.S. oil […]

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Hedge Funds Surrender to Oil Rout as Bullish Bets Drop

Workers connect drill bits and drill collars, used to extract natural petroleum, on… Read More Hedge funds finally pulled back from bets on higher oil prices as the market faced its worst year since 2008. Speculators reduced their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude for the first time in four weeks, cutting their holdings by 5 percent in the week ended Dec. 23, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed yesterday. Long wagers dropped the most since August. Prices tumbled today to the lowest level in more than five years as U.S. output climbed and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to make production cuts. The International Energy Agency and U.S. Energy Information Administration cut their estimates of 2015 global fuel consumption this month amid expectations for slower economic growth outside the U.S. “The weak physical fundamentals have weighed on the market,” Tim Evans , an energy analyst […]

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U.S. Oil Prices Fall 46% This Year, Steepest Loss Since 2008

ENLARGE NEW YORK—Oil futures closed the year at more-than five-year lows, as plentiful supplies and tepid demand continued to send prices plunging. Brent crude oil and gasoline futures both posted 48% losses in 2014, making them the worst performers among the 22 commodity markets tracked by the Bloomberg Commodity Index. U.S. oil futures dropped 46% in the year. Oil, gasoline and diesel markets all posted their largest annual losses since the global recession in 2008. Wednesday’s price drop marked a “poetic end to…what ended up being a difficult year for the oil and gas industry,” said Adam Wise, managing director at John Hancock Financial Services, who helps oversee about $7 billion in energy-related investments. Weak Chinese economic data weighed on the market Wednesday, along with U.S. inventory data showing that supplies in a key storage hub rose last week. Brent crude futures settled down 57 cents, or 1%, at […]

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NYMEX prompt-month gas closes below $3/MMBtu

Houston (Platts)–31Dec2014/455 pm EST/2155 GMT The NYMEX February natural gas futures contract tumbled 20.5 cents to a $2.889/MMBtu settlement as the market reacted to a smaller-than-expected gas storage withdrawal report and continued mild winter weather. Wednesday’s settlement price was the first time a front-month package closed below $3/MMBtu since September 25, 2012, and Wednesday’s settle was the lowest since September 24, 2012, when the prompt-month package settled at $2.837/MMBtu. Wednesday’s settlement price represents a slide of $1.60, or about 36%, since a recent prompt-month peak of $4.489/MMBtu on November 20. Phil Flynn, Price Futures Group senior market analyst, said a number of factors contribute to the natural gas’ stumble on Wednesday. "Obviously, the inventory report was very bearish, and the weather up until now has been warmer than normal, but in a larger sense, what is happening in oil prices is trickling down to natural gas," Flynn said. "There’s […]

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Decline In Oil Price Tops Industry News In 2014

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136576/Decline_In_Oil_Price_Tops_Industry_News_In_2014 This opinion piece presents the opinions of the author. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Rigzone. As 2014 comes to a close, the oil and gas industry in Texas faces many challenges but none bigger than the decline in the price of crude oil and the failure of natural gas prices to rebound. The Texas Petro Index increased month after month in 2014, setting a new record each month until November when the slide in oil prices began. The TPI expanded for 58 consecutive months reaching a high of 312.9 in October. “The decline of the TPI from October to November likely marks the high point of the expansion of the upstream oil and gas economy that began in December 2009 and signals the onset of a significant cyclical contraction,” said Karr Ingham, the economist who created the TPI and updates it monthly. “If October […]

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OPEC December Crude Output Slips as Global Prices Tumble

OPEC oil output dropped less than 1 percent in December, the first month after the group refused to cut production in response to a rout in oil prices, a Bloomberg survey showed. Output by the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slipped 122,000 barrels a day, or 0.4 percent, to 30.239 million, led by declines in Saudi Arabia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates, according to the survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures dropped to the lowest levels since May 2009 today, capping the worst year since 2008. OPEC left its production quotas unchanged at a Nov. 27 meeting in Vienna, prompting speculation that the group will let crude slide low enough to slow U.S. production that’s climbed to the highest level in three decades . “Ultimately the big producers will make significant cuts to support prices,” Dan Heckman, Kansas City, Missouri-based […]

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OPEC Resolve on Supply Promises No Calm for Oil Markets: Energy

Oil’s biggest price swings in three years are poised to continue as OPEC cedes no ground to competing suppliers. Oil traders’ expectations for future swings, known as implied volatility, surged since Saudi Arabia and fellow members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Nov. 27 to keep pumping crude despite a supply glut. That will mean prices fluctuating in the next several years by even more than the $58-a-barrel move in 2014, Bank of America Corp. says. “OPEC has always been there to lower volatility both on the upside and downside, but now they have less and less weight,” said Pierre Andurand , the London-based founder of Andurand Capital Management LLP, whose $350 million fund earned 18 percent in November from betting on lower Brent crude prices. “It means more volatility.” OPEC’s policy of testing rival producers’ tolerance for lower prices has sparked the search for a […]

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Analysis: 5 key takeaways from Iraq’s 2015 draft budget

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi (center) leads the Dec. 16, 2014, Iraqi Council of Ministers meeting. (Source: Iraqi Cabinet media office) Iraq Oil Report Recommend 5 people recommend this. Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Cabinet is trying to pull off a difficult balancing act – attempting to fund a war, reconstruct a country, and corral a fractured body politic, despite a devastating collapse in oil revenues.The 2015 budget bill is now with Parliament, which gave it a first reading on Dec. 25 and will hold a session on it next week, though a final vote is unlikely until later in January.The draft, obtained by Iraq Oil Report, makes several attempts to remedy past budg…

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Delek: Credit OK despite Israeli cartel claims

Credit rating stable despite evolving antitrust issues in Israeli offshore gas fields, Delek Group says. Photo by James Jones Jr./UPI TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 31 (UPI) — The ruling from the Israeli Antitrust Authority on regional natural gas monopolies had no impact on credit ratings, energy company Delek Group disclosed. A note from Midroog, a subsidiary of Moody’s rating agency, reviewed Delek in the wake of the ruling that a monopoly exists over Israeli natural gas reserves. Delek supplied the findings in a Tuesday release, saying the financial assessment of the company remained stable. Midroog in its report rated Delek Group at A1, or a low credit risk, and stable. "At this preliminary stage, we are continuing to monitor the developments and their possible implications on the debt rating in the short term and medium term, with emphasis on the company’s financial flexibility, operating strategy and structure of its […]

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Venezuelan economy slips into recession

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he’ll outline steps to fix the nation’s economy, as low oil prices push it into recession. File photo UPI CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 31 (UPI) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he’d unveil economic reform efforts next year as an economy linked strongly to oil prices slips into recession. The Central Bank of Venezuela said the collapse in oil prices was in part to blame for a 2.3 percent drop in third quarter gross domestic product. That marks three straight quarters of decline for the member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. With a reform agenda in mind, Maduro said that, with Venezuelan oil valued at around $46 per barrel, it was time to usher in an economic overhaul and a time for opportunity. "Awareness and national unity are required," he said. "Widespread debate and national commitment are needed." As part of the agenda, […]

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