Light, sweet crude oil prices for March delivery dropped more than $1/bbl Feb. 5 on the New York market and the Brent contract for April fell by nearly $1/bbl on the London market, which analysts attributed to plunges in world stock markets.
Brent settled Feb. 5 at a premium of $3.75/bbl to the US light, sweet crude. Concerns about rising bond yields and higher inflation were said to be influencing equity markets, including energy-related stocks.
Commerzbank analysts said speculative financial investors were getting out of their crude oil forward contracts.
Analysts said market observers also are worried about more US oil coming to market. Baker Hughes reported the US drilling rig count lost 1 unit to 946 working rigs for the week ended Feb. 2, reversing 2 weeks of gains. This total is up 217 units from a year ago (OGJ Online, Feb. 2, 2018).
Drillers added 6 rigs drilling for crude oil to a total of 765. This was up from 583 rigs drilling for oil for the same week a year ago. Gas-targeted rigs were down 7 units to reach 181 units, which compares with 145 for the same period a year ago.
Energy prices
The March light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.30 on Feb. 5 to settle at $64.15/bbl. The April contract was down $1.24 to $63.83/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for March settled at a rounded $2.75/MMbtu, down nearly 10¢. The Henry Hub cash gas price fell 7¢ to $2.79/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for March declined by a rounded 3¢ to a rounded $2.02/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for March fell 2.5¢ to a rounded $1.85/gal.
Brent on London’s ICE for April fell 96¢ to $67.62/bbl. The May contract was down $1 to $67.28/bbl. The gas oil contract for February declined $2.25 to $607/tonne.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes was $67.05/bbl on Feb. 5, down $1.35.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
