Light, sweet crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange increased modestly on the New York market on Aug. 22 but still settled below $48/bbl for a second consecutive day while market participants awaited the latest inventory reports.
The US Energy Information Administration last week said crude oil stocks, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by nearly 9 million bbl during the week ended Aug. 11—the ninth reduction in 10 weeks.
The American Petroleum Institute said Aug. 22 that US crude inventories declined by 3.6 million bbl for the week ended Aug. 18. EIA was scheduled to release its inventory for that week later Aug. 23.
On world oil markets, confusion surrounded the status of Libya’s Sharara oil field as of Aug. 23. Commerzbank analysts said Sharara was shut down a few days ago when a tribe closed a pipeline as part of their protest regarding a jobs dispute. Since then, there have been conflicting reports about whether Sharara is set to reopen.
“Yesterday’s flood of news reports makes it clear that the situation in Libya is still chaotic and that conditions in the country are still far from normal,” Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note Aug. 23. “This also makes it unlikely that Libya will be included in the OPEC cut agreement anytime soon.”
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC countries agreed to production-cut targets through first-quarter 2018 in efforts to support oil prices. Libya and Nigeria were exempt from the agreement. Nigeria has said it is willing to consider participating in the future but no timetable exists.
Energy prices
The September light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX rose 27¢ on Aug. 22 to settle at $47.64/bbl while the October contract climbed 30¢ to settle at $47.83/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for September fell 2.3¢ to a rounded $2.94/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $3.01/MMbtu, up 3¢.
Heating oil for September rose 2¢ to a rounded $1.59/gal. Reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenate blending for September was up less than a penny to a rounded $1.59/gal.
The Brent crude contract for October on London’s ICE rose 21¢ to $51.87/bbl. The November contract gained 30¢ to $51.58/bbl. The September gas oil contract was $473.75/tonne on Aug. 22, up $2.75.
OPEC’s basket of crudes on Aug. 22 was $49.50/bbl, down 30¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
