Crude oil benchmarks dropped on New York and London markets on Feb. 4 while market participants watched developments in Venezuela’s oil exports since US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
The sanctions are an effort to support Juan Guaido as interim president and undermine the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Trump has recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s president.
On Feb. 4, several European Union countries also recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader. Commerzbank analysts said, “This means that Europeans are likely to join the US oil sanctions against Venezuela.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite images accessed through shipping tracking web site FleetMon shows several dozen ships that normally carry oil and products sitting idle in waters off Maracaibo.
Several of those tankers had recently delivered cargoes to Corpus Christi, Tex., and New York, FleetMon data said.
Energy prices
The March contract for light, sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined by 70¢ to settle at $54.56/bbl on Feb. 4 while the contract for April delivery decreased 66¢ to settle at $54.89/bbl.
NYMEX natural gas for March declined 7¢ to close at a rounded $2.66/MMbtu on Feb. 4.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for March dropped less than a penny to remain at a rounded $1.91/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for March fell less than 1¢ to a rounded $1.43/gal.
Brent crude for April delivery declined by 24¢ to settle at $62.51/bbl while the May contract dropped 21¢ to settle at $62.58/bbl. The gas oil contract for February increased by $2.25 to $580.50/tonne on Feb. 4.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes was $62.32/bbl on Feb. 4, up by $1.39.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
