Month: September 2015

An oil pump jack can be seen in Cisco, Texas, August 23, 2015. Oil prices edged up early on Wednesday after U.S. crude stocks were estimated to have dropped last week, stripping some supplies out of an oversupplied market that has seen prices more than halve since June 2014. Industry group the American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. crude stockpiles fell 3.7 million barrels last week, with stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude futures alone down almost 500,000 barrels. [API/S] U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading at $46.56 per barrel at 0051 GMT, up 20 cents from their last settlement. Globally traded Brent futures LCOc1 were at $49.19 per barrel, up 11 cents. But traders said some downward pressure was likely to build during Asian trading. "Oil, like other commodities, is in the middle of a glut. Most say there are […]

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

Analysts are growing even more bearish about the oil price, predicting that crude is set to stay below $60 a barrel through next year as the market struggles to recover from a supply glut. Even as the oil price lingers at levels not seen since the depths of the financial crisis, many analysts and investors are repeating a new crude mantra: lower for longer. A survey of 13 investment banks by The Wall Street Journal cut their average forecast for Brent crude, the international price gauge, by $9 to $58.70 a barrel, compared with last month’s survey. For West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil marker, the average forecast is for $54.40 a barrel, also down $9 from August. “There is still a lot of excess oil around and that will limit any material price improvements until the second half of 2016,” said Gareth Lewis-Davies, an oil strategist at BNP […]

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

NEW YORK—U.S. oil prices slid Tuesday on expectations that data would show U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and refined products at a record high. Prices erased some losses late in the session, with gasoline and diesel prices turning positive on a report that a major pipeline had closed some of its lines. Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled down 85 cents, or 1.8%, at $45.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The October contract expired at settlement Tuesday. The more-actively traded November contract fell 60 cents, or 1.3%, to $46.36 a barrel. Oil prices have traded in a tight range for several weeks, as falling U.S. production supports the market but concerns about global demand weigh on prices. On Tuesday, worries about Chinese growth sent global markets reeling. Investors looked ahead to the Caixin manufacturing activity reading for September, due early Wednesday in China. China is […]

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

A customer holds a nozzle to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in Nice December 5, 2014. Crude oil prices fell in early Asian trading as traders took profit following a 4 percent rise in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $46.23 per barrel at 0024 GMT (0824 EDT), down 45 cents from their last settlement. Globally traded Brent futures were at $48.51 per barrel, down 41 cents. The dip in prices came after oil rallied on Monday, with U.S crude surging more than 4 percent on signs of declining stockpiles and a fall in drilling activity, which implies lower future oil production. A Reuters poll on Monday forecast that U.S. crude inventories as a whole fell by 2.1 million barrels last week. [EIA/S] Traders also focused on the soon-to-expire front-month contract in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), which serves […]

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

Oil tanker Saturn sailing under the Marshall Islands flag is seen by the Parana River, in front of the Rosario port, Argentina September 11, 2015. Big energy importers in emerging markets were expected to benefit from plunging oil prices, but with China’s growth slowing and their exports dwindling, only a handful have been able to capitalize on cheaper fuel. Investor disappointment is evident in a broad emerging market rout – Turkish and Indonesian stocks are down around 30 percent in dollar terms this year. "It’s a source of disappointment that we haven’t seen the full impact of lower commodity prices," said Yacov Arnopolin, portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Initial signs were more encouraging. Last December, the International Monetary Fund predicted that cheaper oil would boost global growth as much as 0.7 percentage points in 2015. Investors also welcomed moves by importers India and Indonesia to cut fuel […]

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

The recent uproar over Volkswagen ’s diesel vehicles could spur drivers to switch to gasoline vehicles, analysts say. Would that affect diesel prices? A world-wide shift away from diesel vehicles would reduce demand for the fuel, further lowering prices. But if the shift were limited to cars in the U.S. and Europe, it might not have much of an effect. In developed nations, increased fuel efficiency and more use of vehicles that run on electricity or other fuels is already expected to limit demand for both gasoline and diesel. The global diesel market is facing a glut that could last for years . Refiners have invested in new diesel capacity in the past decade, but demand growth has lagged behind expectations. Countries including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and China are competing to sell their diesel around the world, weighing on prices. Diesel futures have plunged in the past year […]

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

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