By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 5 -- Crude oil prices fell below $110/bbl May 4 after the latest set of data from the US Department of Energy show a marginal fall in the crude and products surplus, analysts with Barclays Capital said in a May 5 commodity briefing.
“Oil prices came under further pressure…with a weak set of economic data release…and a tepid set of DOE data weighing on the market,” the analysts said. “After a string of extremely constructive DOE statistics, the headline figures from the latest data release are a rather lackluster,” they said.
“However,” they added, “it masks some reasonably positive data beneath the surface. The crude and products surplus (excluding the ‘other oils’ category) fell by 100,000 bbl to 26.1 million bbl, with the oil product surplus above the 5-year average falling by 900,000 bbl to now stand at just 7 million bbl. The surplus of crude oil inventories over their 5-year average increased by 800,000 bbl to 19.1 million bbl, with lower refinery runs trumping the pull back in imports. All of that build was in the US Gulf Coast, with significant power outages (from extremely dry weather) in Texas City resulting in lost power for all the refining facility in the area.”
They said, “Indeed, while the normal seasonal pattern for crude is to rise seasonally in absolute terms, we would expect the extent of that rise to be less than the seasonal average, given the general backdrop of tightening fundamentals, as has broadly been the case over the past few weeks.”
Energy prices
The June contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes declined May 4 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, dropping $1.81 to $109.24/bbl. The July contract lost $1.83 to $109.73/bbl. On the US spot market, WTI at Cushing, Okla., was down $1.81 to $109.24/bbl.
Heating oil for June delivery fell 4.78¢ to $3.14/gal on NYMEX. Reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending for the same month declined less than a penny to $3.32/gal.
The June natural gas contract decreased by 9.3¢ to $4.58/MMbtu on NYMEX. On the US spot market, gas at Henry Hub, La., dropped 4¢ to $4.58/MMbtu.
In London, the June IPE contract for North Sea Brent crude dropped $1.26 to $121.19/bbl. Gas oil for May fell $20.75 to $998.25/tonne.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 12 reference crudes was down $1.79 to $116.96/bbl.
