The light, sweet crude oil contract for October gained modestly on the New York market Sept. 12 to settle above $46/bbl, but prices retreated in early Sept. 13 trading while analysts digested monthly reports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency.
Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob said, “IEA has been bearish on demand and OPEC on non-OPEC supply, but whichever way you look at this it means that the markets are going to take longer to balance than many predicted at the start of this year.”
IEA reported global oil demand growth slowed to 800,000 b/d in the third quarter, which was 1.5 million b/d lower than third-quarter 2015. The Paris-based IEA also suggested that it might be “a while longer” before the oversupplied oil market returns to balance.
“Supply will continue to outpace demand at least through the first half of next year,” IEA said.
Separately, OPEC revised its forecast for non-OPEC supply upward by 180,000 b/d for 2017 in its Monthly Oil Market Report.
Brent crude oil ended August at $47.16/bbl while the US light, sweet crude price held at $44.80/bbl, the OPEC report said. The Brent-US benchmark spread widened to $2.36/bbl in August, OPEC said.
Energy prices
The October crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 41¢ on Sept. 12 to close at $46.29/bbl. The November contract rose 38¢ to $46.84/bbl.
The natural gas contract for October climbed nearly 12¢ to a rounded $2.91/MMbtu. On the spot market, the Henry Hub gas price was up 7¢ to $2.99/MMbtu.
Heating oil for October rose 1¢ to a rounded $1.44/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending was up nearly 3¢ to a rounded $1.39/gal.
The November Brent crude contract on London’s ICE gained 31¢ to settle at $48.32/bbl and the December contract climbed 34¢ to settle at $48.81. The October gas oil contract settled at $425.25/tonne, down $2.25.
The average price for OPEC’s basket of 12 benchmark crudes on Sept. 12 was unavailable.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
