Benchmark crude oil prices rose on both the New York and London markets on news of supply disruptions. Buzzard field in the UK North Sea had an unexpected shutdown. Nigeria said its production declined 225,000 b/d in March compared with February.
US light, sweet crude futures prices and Brent crude futures rose on “supply-driven news,” said Carsten Fritsch, a Commerzbank analyst. “At the moment, we see at least some indication of a tightening of supply coming from temporary supply outages.”
Buzzard normally produces 180,000 b/d. Production was stopped pending repairs to an onshore processing terminal, Reuters reported, quoting trading sources. Nexen, which operates Buzzard field, had not issued a statement as of early Apr. 5. Nexen is owned by CNOOC Ltd.
“This outage more than offsets the increase in oil production in Libya,” Fritsch said, referring to the Apr. 2 resumption of production at Sharara field.
The US Energy Information Administration was scheduled Apr. 5 to issue the weekly US oil and product inventory report, which analysts expected to show a decline.
Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said its estimate showed oil supplies fell 1.8 million bbl for the week ended Mar. 31.
Energy prices
The crude oil contract for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 79¢ on Apr. 5 to close at $51.03/bbl while the June contract rose 80¢ to $51.51/bbl.
The natural gas price for May rose 16¢ to a rounded $3.29/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price closed Apr. 4 at $3.07/MMbtu, up 2¢.
Heating oil for May was up nearly 3¢ to $1.59/gal. Reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenate blending for May rose nearly 3¢ to $1.72/gal.
The Brent crude contract for June on London’s ICE gained $1.05 to $54.17/bbl. The July contract was up by $1.03 to $54.44/bbl. The gas oil contract settled at $477.75/tonne, up $7.25.
The average price for OPEC’s basket of benchmark crudes on Apr. 4 was $50.59/bbl, down 9¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
