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Commodities Rally Hit by Stronger Dollar

ENLARGE An oil refinery in California. U.S. oil prices were among the hardest-hit commodities Tuesday, hurt as the dollar reversed course and surged the first two days of this week. Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS Commodity prices tumbled on Tuesday, as a resurgent dollar and concerns about weakness in China’s economy pushed investors out of everything from crude oil to copper and corn. The S&P GSCI index, which tracks prices of 24 commodities, recorded its biggest one-day drop in more than a month and ended at its lowest since April 28. Before that, commodities markets, led by a recent rebound in crude oil, staged a surprising two-month rally that had pushed the index to its highs for the year. Driving the gains was a faltering greenback, which many short-term investors took as a signal to scoop up raw materials. But the dollar has abruptly reversed course in the past two days, […]

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MARKET WATCH: Crude prices slide on strengthening dollar, abundant world supply

Crude oil prices on the New York and London markets declined May 18 and early May 19 as the US dollar gained 1% vs. a basket of major currencies and reports indicated that oil exports from Saudi Arabia in March reached their highest level since 2005. The kingdom exported 7.898 million b/d during the month compared with 7.35 million b/d in February, according to data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative. News of ample supply from the Middle East offset concerns about turmoil in Iraq and Yemen ( OGJ Online, May 18, 2015 ). Analysts, meanwhile, cautioned that the recent rebound in crude prices may be short-lived because of oversupply from the Middle East as well as the US, where the rig count is shrinking and production remains at record levels ( OGJ Online, May 15, 2015 ). According to a report from Reuters, Goldman Sachs reduced its Brent […]

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Oil Prices Extend Longest Decline Since March

ENLARGE A crude oil storage tank in Oklahoma, U.S., in March. The American Petroleum Institute will report U.S. crude inventories for the latest week later Tuesday. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News Oil prices slumped Tuesday in the latest sign that the recent rally in crude prices may have peaked. The U.S. oil benchmark has slid for five straight sessions, the longest losing streak since mid-March. Though prices are still up more than 30% from a near six-year low reached in March, the benchmark has fallen 5.7% in the last five sessions. Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled down $2.17, or 3.7%, to $57.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract expired at settlement Tuesday. The more actively traded July contract settled down $2.25, or 3.7%, at $57.99 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled down $2.25, or 3.4%, at $64.02 a barrel on the […]

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Oil prices drop as weak fundamentals weigh on market

SINGAPORE Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as slow economic growth and high supplies meant that markets remain oversupplied, although U.S. prices received some support from rising demand ahead of the summer driving season. Brent futures LCOc1 were down 60 cents at $65.67 a barrel by 2.12 a.m. ET, after an almost 1 percent fall on Monday on near-record Saudi exports. Goldman Sachs said Brent crude prices were due for a downward correction after a recent rally that saw prices of the North Sea benchmark jump 50 percent since its mid-January lows. "We find that the global market imbalances are in fact not solved and believe that the rally will prove self-defeating as it undermines the nascent rebalancing," the bank said in an overnight report that reiterated its downward revision of long-term oil prices on Monday. It said the ongoing oversupply, upside to U.S. production at current prices and […]

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Macroeconomic concerns drag on oil

International Labor Organization said any major growth in jobs is largely uneven and centered largely around part-time work. Photo by KieferPix/Shutterstock NEW YORK, May 19 (UPI) — Crude oil prices retreated heavily in early Tuesday trading on signs of a slowdown in the British economy and worries over the pace of global jobs growth. Brent crude oil prices fell more than 1.5 percent from the previous close to $65.15 to start the trading day Tuesday. Brent started the month just above $66 per barrel. Crude oil prices have recovered from early 2015 lows below the $50 per barrel mark on signs the global marketplace was starting to take up some of the excess supply. A weak recovery in the United States, however, has overshadowed some of the stability seen in Asia. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, dropped 1.8 percent to $58.33, down about $1 per barrel from May […]

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OMV unsure about Yemen, Libya

Austrian energy company OMV said it’s unsure about future operations in Libya and Yemen. File Photo By Dona_Bozzi/Shutterstock. VIENNA, May 19 (UPI) — Production of natural reserves in Libya and Yemen may be shuttered for the rest of the year because of ongoing violence, Austrian energy company OMV said. The end of the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya divided the country along ethnic and tribal lines. Libyan oil production has been about half of the peak capacity above 1 million barrels per day. For Yemen, a pan-Arab offensive led by Saudi Arabia was meant to restore order in a restive country under pressure from the Houthi movement, a Shiite group. While not a major oil producer, the country hosts one of the busiest oil shipping lanes in the world. OMV in a financial report said first quarter production was down nearly 5 percent from the previous quarter to […]

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Rocket attack hits Ajil field

Smoke rises from the Ajil oil field as Shia militiamen gather in al-Hadidiya, south of Tikrit, on March 6, 2015. (THAIER AL-SUDANI/Reuters) Recommend Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. The Islamic State (IS) militant group has destroyed a crucial flow tank at the Ajil oil field near Tikrit, rendering the entire field offline for at least a year."Ajil produces oil from the wells and gathers it into one flow tank from which we used to pump the crude to Kirkuk," said a senior official from the state-run North Oil Company (NOC), which operates the field. "That flow tank does not exist anymore."The tank was hit during a rocket attack by IS militants late Monday and early Tu… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial . […]

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Iraq approves $526 million drilling deal for West Qurna oilfield

BAGHDAD Iraq’s cabinet has approved a $526.6 million drilling deal with China’s Zhongman for the West Qurna Two oilfield, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. Under the 28-month contract, Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas will drill 66 production oil wells at West Qurna Two, operated by Russia’s Lukoil, the statement said. Current production capacity at West Qurna Two is over 400,000 bpd but actual output is less than 350,000 bpd. Ranked as one of the largest oil fields in the world, West Qurna Two, where Lukoil holds a 75-percent stake, is one of several big fields under development which are set to boost Iraq’s economy. (Reporting by Baghdad bureau)

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Libya’s State Oil Company Reassures West of Its Independence

LONDON—Libyan National Oil Co. officials have launched a charm offensive to reassure foreign companies that are increasingly nervous over the use of oil payments and security arrangements in the war-torn country. The state-run oil company has been caught in the middle of a conflict playing out since the ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, dividing the country between an internationally recognized government in the city of Bayda and an Islamist militia, Libya Dawn, that controls the country’s capital of Tripoli. The industry has also been rattled by attacks by the radical Islamic State, worker strikes and sabotage of oil facilities. Amid the mounting chaos, National Oil Co. and Libyan Central Bank officials have met with international energy companies to assure them that their oil payments are being managed transparently and independently, the company’s chairman, Mustafa Sanallah, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “We […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple