Oil Futures Fall, WTI Crude Hovers Near $40 a Barrel
Crude-oil futures fell in Asian trade Thursday after a surprise buildup in U.S. oil stockpiles and persistent oversupply concerns. Nymex oil futures edged closer to the $40 a barrel mark, after dropping to fresh six-year lows in the previous session, and analysts say a breach of this support level could pressure oil prices further. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $40.50 a barrel at 0332 GMT, down $0.30 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $46.88 a barrel. Nymex crude lost 4.3% in the last trading session, settling at the lowest in since March 2, 2009. Brent crude lost 3.4% in the last session and has been down for four of the past five sessions. U.S. oil prices in particular are under pressure after a surprise 2.6 million-barrel increase in […]
Oil prices dip further after U.S. stock-build, Saudi export rise
A drop of diesel is seen at the tip of a nozzle after a fuel station customer fills her car’s tank in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Oil prices fell again on Thursday as supplies rose both in North America and the Middle East, with U.S. contracts hovering slightly above $40 per barrel, levels not seen since the credit crunch of 2009, and globally traded Brent falling below $47. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil already slumped over 4 percent on Wednesday to hit a 6-1/2-year low as a huge unexpected stockpile build in the United States reinforced concerns about a growing global oil glut. U.S. crude inventories rose 2.6 million barrels last week to 456.21 million barrels, the government’s Energy Information Administration said. Supplies were also added from Canada, which increased exports to the United States by more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the […]
Economist: Three Reasons Oil Will Surge Past $70 By the End of the Year
Oil has been demolished over the past year, falling from $100 a barrel to the low 40s. But one oil expert says things are about to turn the corner once again, and Brent crude is going to surge to $71 a barrel by the end of the year. Credit Suisse energy economist Jan Stuart spoke on Bloomberg TV yesterday, giving the reasons behind his big target. I admit, my target looks very ambitious. The thinking behind it is that production is rolling already. We know that it’s higher than we thought it was going to be at this stage, but it is rolling. The question is going to be how fast, how far. We think United States crude oil production ends the year below 9 million barrels a day from the 9.6 high…Number two, demand is growing…Emerging market demand not great, but not bad either. It’s still growing, the […]
U.S. Oil Could Return to 2008 Low of $32 in Citigroup View
Oil could fall to lows last seen during the global financial crisis amid a persistent supply surplus, Citigroup Inc. said. “Balances point to further oversupply throughout 2015 begging the question how low can oil go,” Citigroup analysts led by Seth Kleinman said in an e-mailed report Wednesday. The U.S. crude price of $32.40 a barrel reached in 2008 “is a conceivable reality.” Crude has tumbled more than 30 percent since June amid signs that producers are maintaining output even after oil fell back into a bear market. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell $1.64 to $40.98 at 12:08 a.m. local time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest level since March 2009. Prices could keep falling, even below producers’ operating costs, without forcing cutbacks in output, the bank said. Shutting down production is costly and can be permanent, which makes “high-end costs a tentative floor which can […]
Likelihood of U.S. Oil Sliding to $30 a Barrel Is Increasing
As U.S. oil fell to a six-year low below $41 a barrel on Wednesday, an increasing number of analysts and traders are saying crude could drop into the $30s—and soon. The move to a price last seen at the height of the financial crisis, in February 2009, could come amid a seasonal falloff in demand, coupled with concerns about the Chinese economy and the continuing global glut of crude . Cheaper oil would bring further joy to consumers and businesses around the globe, but more pain for everyone from Russian budget officials to U.S. shale-oil drillers. It would also test the limits of oil storage facilities around the globe, which are already filling up to the brim. A 40% price rally in the spring took oil to above $60 a barrel, offering hope that the worst of oil’s yearlong slump was over as investors bet that low prices would […]
Why oil prices could sink to $15 a barrel
The story behind oil’s plunge American drivers could soon be partying like it’s 1999. Oil prices have already taken a dramatic fall that’s saved consumers big time at the pump . Last week, crude tumbled below $42 a barrel , down from $100 last year. One big-name investor is predicting an even sharper drop. “There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest we have bottomed. You could have $15 or $20 oil — easily,” influential money manager David Kotok told CNNMoney. A further decline to $15 a barrel would be huge. Oil hasn’t traded that low since early 1999, when gasoline at the pump was selling for under $1 a gallon. Kotok’s views on the economy and financial markets are closely watched. The 72-year-old co-founder of Cumberland Advisors manages more than $2 billion in assets and hosts an annual invite-only fishing trip that doubles as an economic summit. Known as […]
Burned by oil, some U.S. fund managers still bet on rebound
A customer prepares to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in Nice December 5, 2014. Mutual fund managers who believed the slump in oil prices would be short-lived have been taking it on the chin, but some are not giving up, betting that the market will bounce back and they will have the last laugh. The FPA Capital Fund, the Towle Deep Value Fund and the Mount Lucas US Focus Equity fund are among several that are still plowing money into oil exploration and production companies, even as their performance numbers sank to the bottom 5 percent this year, according to Morningstar. (Graphic: link.reuters.com/nup45w ) Their reason for buying oil stocks even as crude prices are tanking again after a tentative second-quarter recovery? A bet that U.S. production will retreat sharply over the next 12 months, setting the stage for a rebound toward $65-70 per barrel that […]
Saudi Stocks Head for Bear Market as Oil Slides on Supply Glut
Saudi Arabian stocks were poised to close in a bear market after declining eight straight days as the price of oil slumped, hitting the country’s main source of economic growth. The Tadawul All Share Index sank 2.8 percent to 7,768.88 at 11:11 a.m. local time, a more than 20 percent drop from the most recent peak in April. Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, slid 0.5 percent to $46.95 a barrel after falling to the lowest since January in earlier trading on Thursday. An unexpected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and record oil production from Saudi Arabia in June has deepened concern that growing oversupply will continue to impact oil prices as nations tussle over market share. Governments in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, home to about 30 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, rely on income from crude to fund spending. Most […]
IAEA says access to Iran’s Parchin military site meets demands
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna September 10, 2012. The United Nations nuclear watchdog said it is satisfied with access Iran will grant it to the country’s Parchin military site, suspected by some states to have in the past hosted atomic bomb-related experiments. Without International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmation that Iran is keeping promises enshrined in a landmark nuclear deal reached with world powers on July 14, the country will not be granted much-needed relief from sanctions. According to data given to the IAEA by some member states, Parchin might have housed hydrodynamic experiments to assess how specific materials react under high pressure, such as in a nuclear blast. Asked if Iran would be allowed to conduct inspections itself to address concerns about Parchin, the IAEA said it […]