Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Jan. 30 -- Crude futures prices continued climbing Jan. 29 after Syncrude Canada Ltd. in Calgary said subzero weather forced it to shut in production of 350,000 b/d from its oil sands operations northeastern Alberta.
The company said it could take days to resume production, which was suspended when local temperatures dropped to –33° F. Some of that crude is exported to the US Midwest.
"This coming at a time when refineries are heavily in maintenance and turnaround is not a major concern in itself but globally adds to lower export programs from Russia in February and Nigeria in March. Exports from Kirkuk [Iraq] have also been interrupted but are reported to be coming back gradually on line," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix GMBH, Zug, Switzerland.
US inventories
At the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc., analysts said an anticipated increase in crude stocks could have "a neutralizing effect on oil prices."
The Energy Information Administration said Jan. 30 commercial US inventories of crude climbed by 3.6 million bbl to 293 million bbl during the week ended Jan. 25. Gasoline stocks increased by the same amount, 3.6 million bbl, to 223.9 million bbl during that period. Distillate fuel inventories dropped 1.5 million bbl to 127 million bbl.
Imports of crude into the US declined 100,000 b/d to 10.1 million b/d that same week. Total gasoline imports averaged 1.2 million b/d, with distillate fuel imports at 277,000 b/d. Still, the input of crude into US refining fell 302,000 b/d to 14.6 million b/d, with refineries running at 85% of capacity. US gasoline production dipped to 8.9 million b/d and distillate fuel production fell to 3.9 million b/d.
Energy prices
The March contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 65¢ Jan. 29 to $91.64/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The April contract advanced 63¢ to $91.42/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate was up 66¢ to $91.65/bbl. Heating oil for February delivery increased 1.53¢ to $2.54/gal on NYMEX. The February contract for reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) inched up 0.42¢ to close at $2.33/gal.
The February natural gas contract dropped 9.9¢ to $8/MMbtu on NYMEX, with forecasts of warmer weather in the US Northeast. On the US spot market, gas at Henry Hub, La., climbed 17¢ to $8.09/MMbtu.
In London, the March IPE contract for North Sea Brent crude gained 62¢ to $92/bbl. The February gas oil contract escalated by $15.25 to $810.50/tonne.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 12 reference crudes was up $1.21 to $88.39/bbl on Jan. 29.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].
