Commodity Corner: WTI Nears $91; Brent Approaches $113

- Commodity Corner: WTI Nears $91; Brent Approaches $113

Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Matthew V. Veazey

The September WTI contract price tumbled two percent Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that commercial crude oil inventories increased last week.

Light sweet crude oil fell to $91.22 a barrel before ending the day at $91.93. The intraday high was $93.75. The EIA on Wednesday reported that oil stocks increased by one million barrels last week to 355.0 million barrels. The July 29, 2011, figure was three million barrels lower than the corresponding figure last year. Analysts surveyed by Platts had anticipated a larger build in EIA's latest report, predicting a two million-barrel week-on-week increase in inventories.

Brent futures fell more dramatically Wednesday, losing $3.23 to settle at $113.23 a barrel. The contract peaked at $115.98 and bottomed out at $113.09 during the midweek session.

Thanks to a moderating temperature outlook from the Midwest to the Northeast for the next two weeks, cooling demand in these power-hungry regions is expected to remain at normal levels. Not surprisingly, natural gas for September delivery lost 6.5 cents Wednesday. Natural gas settled at $4.09 per thousand cubic feet after trading within a range from $4.07 to $4.18.

Front-month gasoline plunged 3.6 percent Wednesday to settle at $2.93 a gallon. The September contract fluctuated from $2.92 to $3.02.

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Oil moves through $113 a barrel

Oil moves through $113 a barrel

April 11, 2011

By Virginia Harrison , MarketWatch 

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures edged back up in electronic trading on Monday, but news of a possible peace agreement in Libya helped limit gains in Asian trading hours.

The benchmark contract for Nymex light sweet crude for May delivery /quotes/comstock/21n!f:cl\k11 (CLK11 112.42, -0.37, -0.33%) added 27 cents, or 0.2%, to $113.06 a barrel.

Gadhafi meets with African leaders
A delegation from the African Union meets with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi over the weekend in a diplomatic effort to stop the bloodshed in Libya. Video courtesy of Reuters. 

Crude prices have increased by more than 23% this year, according to data from FactSet.

Prolonged geopolitical uncertainty and violence in North Africa and the Middle East has been a driving factor behind the soaring oil price. 

But on Monday, there were reports that embattled Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi had agreed to a cease-fire put forward by the African Union. 

The reports cited South African President Jacob Zuma as saying Gadhafi had accepted a peace plan to end the conflict in Libya, which began after violent protests broke out in February. See report on Libyan peace plan. 

 

Elsewhere across the Middle East, however, political unrest raged over the weekend, killing dozens and leaving many wounded.