MARKET WATCH: NYMEX crude oil prices hold above $46/bbl before inventory

Nov. 3, 2015
Light, sweet crude oil prices for December delivery started out the week with a moderate decline to settle at just above $46/bbl on Nov. 2. Analysts said they saw little or no momentum for any significant price support right now. The US government weekly inventory report comes out Nov. 4.

Light, sweet crude oil prices for December delivery started out the week with a moderate decline to settle at just above $46/bbl on Nov. 2. Analysts said they saw little or no momentum for any significant price support right now. The US government weekly inventory report comes out Nov. 4.

Near-term oil prices are likely to continue in a range under $50/bbl, just as they have for weeks, noted Olivier Jakob, Petromatrix analyst.

“With flat prices not moving out of the range, we think that we will have to wait a few more weeks until the OPEC meeting to maybe find again some sustained momentum,” Jakob said of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has a regular meeting scheduled in Vienna Dec. 4.

The December crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 45¢ to settle at $46.14/bbl on Nov. 2. The January crude oil contract dropped 43¢ to $47.04/bbl.

The NYMEX natural gas contract for December declined 6.5¢ to a rounded $2.26/MMbtu. The Henry Hub, La., gas price fell 2¢ to $1.92/MMbtu.

Heating oil for December delivery dropped nearly a cent to a rounded $1.51/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending for December increased by less than a penny to a rounded $1.37/gal.

The December ICE contract for Brent crude was down 77¢ to $48.79/bbl. The January contract also declined by 70¢ to $49.61/bbl. ICE gas oil for November settled at $453.50/tonne, down $1.75.

The average price for the OPEC basket of 12 benchmark crudes for Nov. 2 was $44.01/bbl, up 35¢.

Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].

*Paula Dittrick is editor of OGJ’s Unconventional Oil & Gas Report.