Month: May 2015

May 6, 2015 5:25 a.m. ET By Georgi Kantchev LONDON–Oil futures rose Wednesday ahead of key U.S. supply data expected to show that the oil-market glut is starting to abate. Industry group American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that its data showed crude oil supplies in the country fell by 1.5 million barrels last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official estimate for last week later Wednesday, and analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect the inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels. Brent crude for June delivery rose 2.1% to $68.95 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June were trading at $61.90 a barrel, up 2.5% from the previous close. Besides inventory levels, market participants also will track crude oil production in the U.S. data. While it has been running at […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices rose more than a dollar to 2015 highs on Wednesday, as a month-long rally gained further impetus from a fall in U.S. crude stocks and conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude jumped by $1.36 to $68.88 a barrel by 0855 GMT, after hitting a 2015 peak of $69.14. U.S. crude traded $1.51 higher at $61.91 a barrel, near an intraday high of $62.05. "We haven’t seen hedge funds and money managers to be as optimistic and bullish as they are currently," said Vyanne Lai, an oil analyst with National Australia Bank. "They are at their most bullish since July last year, when the oil market fundamentals haven’t really changed that much." Industry group the American Petroleum Institution (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude oil stocks fell for the first time this year, giving a lift to oil prices. The API said that […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

U.S. oil prices surged above $60 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since December as geopolitical events rattled the market. Prices gained on news that protesters in Libya had blocked a key port, interrupting more than 100,000 barrels a day of crude production. Growing Libyan production was a key factor behind the oil market’s plunge of more than 40% in 2014, but the country’s output remains volatile due to unrest. Later in the day, prices rose further as Saudi Arabia raised the official prices for its crude in the U.S. and Europe, suggesting an increase in demand. Tuesday’s jump extends the strong rally in oil prices, which gained 25% in April. Investors expect the global glut of crude to shrink in the second half of the year due to a sharp drop in drilling activity, an increase in demand and an anticipated decline in U.S. crude production. The […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Brent crude oil futures slipped towards $66 a barrel on Tuesday, falling from a 2015 high, as Saudi Arabia considered halting bombing in Yemen to allow the delivery of aid, which eased concerns about oil supply from the Middle East. A stronger U.S. dollar also weighed on the dollar-denominated commodity, while investors waited for data on U.S. commercial crude oil inventories later this week for more direction. Brent crude oil futures were down 17 cents at $66.28 a barrel at 0640 GMT, after touching a 2015 high of $67.10 on Monday. U.S. crude oil futures fell by 12 cents to $58.81 a barrel. "The stronger U.S. dollar and also news out of Saudi Arabia that they are halting the bombings in Yemen are two push-pull factors affecting the oil prices at the moment," said Ben Le Brun, a market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney. The Saudi […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

By Timothy Puko Natural gas prices retreated slightly Tuesday as traders pulled back from a five-session rally that analysts said was based on overly optimistic expectations for demand. Natural gas for June delivery settled down 4.1 cents, or 1.5%, at $2.78 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The losses ended a rally that had pushed up the market more than 13% since it hit a nearly three-year low on April 27. That rally pushed too far, too fast, analysts said. Demand is likely to increase in the summer, but production is still near a record high. And for the next few weeks, temperatures look very comfortable, enough to create big surpluses of natural gas because there won’t be a demand for it to heat homes or burn it for electricity to run air conditioners. "Warmer than normal temperatures in the Northeast will be bearish […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

High U.S. output is keeping railroads busy and fueling an inventory buildup that could pull prices down. Photo: MCT via Getty Images For much of the past year, oil prices were headed in one direction: down. With output swelling from the shale-oil boom, the U.S. benchmark fell 59% from its 2014 high last June to its low on March 17. But then came a sudden reversal. Amid concerns about the impact of low prices on supply, oil prices in April posted their biggest monthly gains in about six years. So, where are oil prices headed next? A lot is riding on the answer. Oil prices have a profound impact on everything from the health of the global economy to international relations, from the fate of energy companies to the pocketbooks of individuals. Cheap oil, for instance, has been a boon to consumers around the world, but sustained low prices […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

An well pump near Sweetwater, Texas. EOG Resources Inc. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co., two of the largest shale-oil producers, are preparing to boost drilling again after oil prices climbed 40 percent in the past seven weeks. EOG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Thomas said Tuesday his company will increase drilling as soon as oil prices, which closed above $60 a barrel for the first time this year, stabilize at $65. Pioneer is planning to add drilling rigs starting in July, subject to oil price movements and the sale of other assets. New drilling now means the companies can add to production in 2016. The statements come a month before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet to discuss supply quotas. The price of West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark, has gained on speculation the oil glut was easing. Drillers cut rigs to a five-year […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

A Valero Energy Corp. oil refinery stands in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. Refiners globally processed an extra 1 million barrels a day last quarter compared with a year earlier. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg As oil prices climbed above $68 Tuesday for the first time since December, analysts at some of the world’s biggest banks were holding onto views that this would be a bad year for crude — just not as terrible as they originally predicted. Rather then extending last year’s losses, Brent, the global benchmark, has rallied about 50 percent from a six-year low in January as demand accelerated and the rapid growth in supplies started to slow. The rebound is a shock. At the start of 2015, Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. all predicted that oil might collapse to about $30 a barrel. Now, though, they are raising their price estimates while remaining […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

(Reuters) – U.S. shale drillers, widely seen as having taken over from OPEC as the swing suppliers to the world, quickly adjusting production as prices ebb and flow, may have just put a $70 a barrel lid on oil. Just months after slashing spending and cutting back on rigs in response to a 60 percent price rout, major domestic producers including bellwether EOG Resources Inc and top Bakken producer Whiting Petroleum Corp are already starting to talk about the price at which they would ramp up production. Others, such as Devon Energy Corp and Noble Energy Inc., are pumping more oil than expected this year after the industry’s deepening drive for more efficient and productive wells yielded better-than-expected results. For some analysts, these are signs of a new price ceiling forming in oil markets and serve warning to traders that a new wave of shale supplies could be quickly […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – OPEC countries are set to maintain current production levels at a meeting next month, three delegates said, as Gulf states continue to focus on market share and a rally in crude prices mutes calls from other members for supply cuts. While the June 5 meeting in Vienna is likely to hear demands from some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for a reduction in the amount of oil pumped, even officials from countries which favor a curb see it as unlikely. A surprise rally driven by tensions in the Middle East and signs the supply glut will ease pushed Brent crude to a 2015 high of $68.23 a barrel on Tuesday, up from January’s nearly six-year low close to $45. Oil prices more than halved last year after reaching $115 a barrel in June. "The prices were expected to be below $40 for […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com