Light, sweet crude oil prices fell to a 3-month low on the New York market July 26 on what traders and analysts called oversupply concerns. The US benchmark crude price has fallen in six of seven trading sessions but the front-month Brent crude oil price rose slightly July 26, snapping a three-session losing streak.
The US Energy Information Administration was scheduled July 27 to release its weekly oil and product inventory statistics.
Al Walker, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. chairman and chief executive officer, said July 27 that he foresees a sustainable $60/bbl oil price likely for 2017, perhaps as early as this year’s fourth quarter.
Walker said, “The ingredients are there for a recovery to sustain $60/bbl oil next year.”
During a second-quarter earnings conference call, Walker said he foresees US oil production bottoming out at 8 million b/d, possibly late this year.
“For the first time since January 2015, we see a window of better oil prices,” Walker said, adding he expects “more clarity” on the oil-price direction in the fourth-quarter.
Energy prices
The NYMEX crude oil contract for September declined 21¢ to settle at $42.92/bbl on July 26, marking the lowest front-month settlement since Apr. 25. The October contract dropped 19¢ to close at $43.68/bbl.
The natural gas contract for August dipped 3.5¢ to a rounded $2.71/MMbtu. On the spot-market, the Henry Hub gas price plummeted 9¢ to $2.72/MMbtu on July 26.
Heating oil for August delivery edged up less than a penny to a rounded $1.33/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending for August rose 1¢ to a rounded $1.34/gal.
The September Brent crude contract on London’s ICE climbed 15¢ on July 26 to $44.87/bbl. The contract for October gained 10¢ to $45.23/bbl. The August gas oil contract settled at $386.25/tonne, down $2.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of 12 benchmark crudes was $40.62/bbl, down 73¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].