Light, sweet crude oil prices for October delivery gained 50¢/bbl on the New York market Sept. 7 while the US gasoline benchmark fell 2.5¢ as some US Gulf Coast refineries restarted operations.
The US oil and products inventory was expected to show a sharp fall in gasoline inventories after Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey caused refinery shutdowns in Texas. Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, Tex., on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm, which flooded much of Houston and East Texas.
Traders and analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect US gasoline supplies fell by 5.7 million bbl and distillate supplies fell by 3.5 million bbl for the week ended Sept. 1.
The US Energy Information Administration was scheduled to release its weekly inventory report on Sept. 7, a day later than normal because of the Sept. 4 Labor Day holiday.
Traders and analysts polled by WSJ expect EIA statistics will show oil inventories rose by 5 million bbl, citing slowed crude oil demand while refineries were closed or running on reduced operations as a storm precaution.
Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said it estimated US crude supplies rose 2.8 million bbl for the week ended Sept. 1, but that gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.5 million bbl.
Energy prices
The October light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 50¢ on Sept. 7 to settle at $49.16/bbl while the November contract rose 48¢ to settle at $49.62/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for October rose nearly 3¢ to $3/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was up 7¢ to $2.93/MMbtu.
Heating oil for October gained 1¢ to a rounded $1.76/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for October was down 2.5¢ to settle at a rounded $1.67/gal on Sept. 6.
The Brent crude contract for November on London’s ICE climbed 82¢ to $54.20/bbl. The December contract increased 71¢ to $54.07/bbl. The gas oil contract was $522.25/tonne on Sept. 6, up $5.25.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Sept. 6 was $51.88/bbl, up $1.06.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
