Light, sweet crude oil for the October contract gained nearly $1 to settle above $50/bbl on Sept. 20 while a weekly US government report showed a steep drop in distillates and gasoline supplies.
During the trading session, US oil price benchmark reached a high for the day of $50.65/bbl before settling lower.
Gasoline stocks have declined since Hurricane Harvey disrupted many refiners’ activities in Texas and Louisiana starting in late August. The US Energy Information Administration reported distillate stockpiles fell 5.7 million bbl for the week ended Sept. 15.
“All refineries around the globe will try to maximize runs to replace the deficit of distillate and that is making for higher seaborne crude oil demand,” said Olivier Jakob, Petromatrix managing director.
Meanwhile, US oil supplies increased as gasoline stockpiles decreased for a third consecutive week (OGJ Online, Sept. 20, 2017).
US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, gained 4.6 million bbl during the week ended Sept. 15 to 472.8 million bbl, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed.
Oil production also rose. EIA estimated total US oil production at 9.51 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 15, 157,000 b/d. The Lower 48 states production 9.048 b/d, up 179,000 b/d. Alaska’s production fell by 22,000 b/d last week to 462,000 b/d.
Energy prices
The October light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange increased 93¢ to settle at $50.41/bbl on Sept. 20. The November contract gained 79¢ to settle at $50.69/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for October fell nearly 3¢ to $3.09/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price held steady at $3.14/MMbtu.
Heating oil for October climbed 3¢ to a rounded $1.80/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for October edged up less than a penny to remain at $1.66/gal on Sept. 20.
The Brent crude contract for November on London’s ICE climbed $1.15 to $56.29/bbl. The December contract increased $1.03 to $55.93/bbl. The gas oil contract for October was $537/tonne, up $7.50.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Sept. 20 was $54.06/bbl, down 25¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].