Benchmark crude oil prices increased slightly Nov. 13 on markets in London and New York, leaving prices rangebound on mixed macroeconomic and fundamental outlooks.
“Despite [Federal Reserve] Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments on [Nov. 13] citing a healthy US job market and favorable projections for continued economic expansion, trade war concerns continue to linger. Indeed, President Trump’s recent threat to raise tariffs on Chinese goods “very substantially” is raising questions about whether the administration’s efforts to negotiate an interim trade deal are moving forward as well as advertised,” SaaS and data analytics company Enverus said in a note Nov. 14.
“Doubts are also starting to emerge about OPEC’s commitment to deeper production cuts, but so far these concerns have been tempered by lower expectations for US production growth next year,” the firm continued.
The light, sweet crude contract for December on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 32¢ to $57.12/bbl on Nov. 13. The January contract was up 35¢ to settle at $57.20/bbl.
Brent crude oil for January was up 31¢ to $62.37/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The February contract was up 30¢ to $61.54/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for December lost 2¢ to $2.60/MMbtu. The January contract was down 2¢ to $2.69/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for December increased over a penny to $1.91/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for December was up 2¢ to a rounded $1.64/gal.
The gas oil contract for December was up 25¢ at $575.25/tonne on Nov. 13.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Nov. 13 was $62.48/bbl, down 34¢.