Crude oil futures for July delivery settled above $61.40/bbl on the New York market June 10, marking a 2015 high settlement for US crude after a weekly government report showed a bigger-than-expected drop in US oil and product supplies.
The Energy Information Administration estimated US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 6.8 million bbl for the week ended June 5 compared with the previous week (OGJ Online, June 10, 2015).
The drop marked the sixth consecutive decline in the crude inventory and also the biggest weekly drop since July 2014. Analysts attributed the latest drop to decreased US oil imports because of fires in Canada and because US refiners are running at high capacity rates for this time of year.
Refining capacity for the week ended June 5 was 94.6%, EIA said. Statistics show 2015 refining capacity has been above 90% since the week ended Apr. 3.
“In 2014, the refinery utilization rate did not consistently exceed 90% in the spring or summer until the last week in June,” Platts Oil Futures Editor Geoffrey Craig said in a news release distributed this week at Benposium, an annual event hosted by Bentek Energy LLC, a unit of Platts.
Energy prices
The July crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed $1.29 on June 10 to settle at $61.43/bbl. The August contract rose $1.21 to settle at $61.82/bbl.
The natural gas contract for July was up 4.5¢ to a rounded $2.89/MMbtu. The Henry Hub, La., gas price climbed 11¢ to $2.92/MMbtu.
Heating oil for July was up nearly 3¢ to a rounded $1.95/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending for July climbed almost 7¢ to a rounded $2.15/gal.
The July ICE contract for Brent crude was up 82¢ to $65.70/bbl while the August contract rose 91¢ to $66.37/bbl. The ICE gas oil contract for June was up $7.50 to $595/tonne.
The average price for OPEC’s basket of 12 benchmark crudes for June 10 was up $2.14 to $62.41/bbl.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
*Paula Dittrick is editor of OGJ’s Unconventional Oil & Gas Report.
