oil prices

Peak oil notes – May 16

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A mid-week update. While oil prices are little changed this week, there has been considerable news concerning the energy markets. Bad economic reports from Europe, the US, and China have helped keep pressure on the markets and raised fears of lower demand for oil in the months ahead. The worse-than-expected economic news, however, pushed the S and P to a new high Wednesday on the hope that Federal Reserve will continue quantitative easing. The increase in equities helped oil prices to recover from losses earlier in the week. At the close, NY oil was $94.30 a barrel while London had climbed to $103.68 thereby widening the WTI-London spread to $9.38 from Monday’s close of $7.65.

Peak oil notes – May 9

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A mid-week update. The surge in oil prices which took NY oil futures from $86 a barrel in mid-April to over $96 continued this week with June futures closing Wednesday at $96.62. The spread between NY and London futures continues to narrow with London currently trading at a premium of only $7.72– the lowest since January 2011. The dollar a barrel jump in NY futures on Wednesday came despite a rather small, 230,000 barrel, increase in US crude inventories and a 57,000 b/d increase in US crude production to 7.37 million b/d — the highest level since February 1992.

Peak oil notes – May 2

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A mid-week upate. Oil prices bounced around early this week, settling Wednesday down from Monday’s opening price. On the New York exchange, crude opened the week at $92.70, climbed to $95, dropped to $90 and closed yesterday at $91.03. In London, Brent futures closed down $2.43 at $99.95 Wednesday, leaving the spread between the two crudes at its low for the year.

Peak oil notes – April 26

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A midweek update. New York oil prices, continuing a modest recovery after their mid-month 10% decline, advanced another 3% this week. NYMEX prices rose Monday, were flat Tuesday, then on Wednesday closed up $2—the largest advance this year—at $91.43. The move up was sparked by a weekly government report showing that oil stockpiles rose less than anticipated while gasoline demand unexpectedly jumped by over 4% to a six-month high. Still, US crude oil in storage isn’t far off its recent 23-year high, thanks to rising domestic production and sluggish economic signals.

Peak oil notes – April 18

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A mid-week update. So far this week oil prices suffered their largest three-day drop of the year and remained below the $90 threshold for the first time since last December. Oil futures in New York settled at $86.30 per barrel on Wednesday, down six percent from $91 at the week’s start. The price of London’s Brent crude this week also slipped below the $100 threshold for the first time this year, closing Wednesday at $97.80. The WTI-Brent price gap remains around $11, also around the year’s lowest level.

Peak oil notes – April 11

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A midweek update. Oil futures in NY rebounded smartly this week retracing about half of the losses sustained during last week’s selloff. London’s Brent crude has been slower to rebound permitting the WTI-Brent spread to close still further to $11.15, the smallest since last June. Much of the impetus for the price rebound came from surging equity markets which saw the S&P setting a new high on Wednesday.