Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Nov. 6 -- Crude prices fell again Nov. 5, continuing a pattern of up one day, down the next over the last six sessions, as investment funds and other speculators took profits from the market's overall upward trend.
Crude prices pulled back Nov. 5 from last week's record highs in the New York market after Kurdish fighters over the weekend freed eight Turkish soldiers captured in earlier fighting along Turkey's border with Iraq. A drop in the equities market and strengthening of the US dollar also helped bring energy prices down.
However, oil prices were reported to be rising again in premarket trading Nov. 6 in anticipation that the US Department of Energy's Nov. 7 report will show another drop in crude inventories. "With the disruption to Mexican crude oil exports, it is to be expected that the US crude imports will remain on the low side…and keep US crude oil stocks under pressure," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of Petromatrix GMBH, Zug, Switzerland.
The crude futures market "has tried and failed to confirm a break of $96/bbl for the last 3 consecutive days, but by the same token it has failed to confirm a break of $93.50/bbl on the downside," Jakob reported.
Energy prices
The December contract dropped $1.95 to $93.98/bbl Nov. 5 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The January contract lost $1.69 to $93.12/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., was down $1.95 to $93.99/bbl. The December contract for reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) lost 5.84¢ to $2.38/gal on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month declined 2.98¢ to $2.54/gal.
The December natural gas contract fell 41.9¢ to $8/MMbtu on NYMEX. On the US spot market, however, gas at Henry Hub, La. inched up 1.5¢ to $6.81/MMbtu.
In London, the December IPE contract for North Sea Brent crude retreated $1.59 to $90.49/bbl. The November gas oil contract gained $6.25 to $808.50/tonne.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 12 reference crudes increased by 56¢ to $88.13/bbl on Nov. 5.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].
