Light, sweet crude oil prices dropped in intraday trading July 19 in New York on continued oversupply fears as output from the US and Saudi Arabia both increased, but a strong statement from the Saudis on July 19 boosted prices to settle higher.
A June 30 Twitter post from US President Donald Trump said that he asked Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production to lower oil prices. Last month the kingdom added almost 10.5 million b/d to the market. However, Saudi Arabia on July 19 noted plans to trim crude exports by 100,000 b/d in August.
“Saudi Arabia only exports barrels that are earmarked to match confirmed lifting requests by end users and does not try to push oil into the market beyond its customers’ needs,” the Energy Ministry said in a statement.
Energy prices
The light, sweet crude contract for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 70¢ to close at $69.46/bbl on July 19. The September price settled up 49¢ to $68.24/bbl. The NYMEX natural gas price for August fell 5¢ to a rounded $2.77/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price remained unchanged at $2.72/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for August remained unchanged at a rounded $2.09/gal. Rounded, the NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for August remained unchanged at $2.04/gal.
Brent crude oil for September dropped 32¢ to $72.58/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The October contract also was down 32¢ to $72.67/bbl. The gas oil contract for August was $641.50/tonne, up $10.50.
The OPEC basket of crudes for July 19 was $70.91/bbl, up 93¢.
