Brent crude oil for December remained under $80/bbl on the London market Oct. 19 while light, sweet oil for November and December delivery settled over $69/bbl in New York.
All were up slightly Oct. 19 as China showed signs of increased demand, but Brent crude ended the week with a 0.3% decline and West Texas Intermediate was down almost 3% for the week.
“China’s healthy oil demand, together with persistently high compliance of countries participating in the OPEC-led output-cut agreement, are supportive of prices in today’s trading session,” said Abhishek Kumar, senior energy analyst at Interfax Energy, in a Reuters report Oct. 19.
The report noted a record-setting rise in China’s refinery throughput in September to 12.49 million b/d, citing government data.
Energy prices
The light, sweet crude contract for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 47¢ to $69.12/bbl on Oct. 19. The December contract was up 57¢ to settle at $69.28/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for November was up 5¢ to $3.25/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for November gained less than 1¢ to a rounded $2.30/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for November gained 2¢ to $1.91/gal.
Brent crude oil for December was up 49¢ to $79.78/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The January contract gained 51¢ to $79.26/bbl. The gas oil contract for November rose $1 on Oct. 19 to close at $714.75/tonne.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Oct. 19 averaged $78.15/bbl, down 10¢.
