Crude oil benchmarks plunged by more than $4/bbl on the New York and London markets Nov. 13 with light, sweet crude oil settling under $56/bbl while Brent settled under $66/bbl.
The International Energy Agency on Nov. 14 said world oil supply could significantly outpace demand because of record US, Russian, and Saudi Arabian production.
Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy, said the IEA report was positive in that it repeated IEA’s oil demand growth forecast for 2018 at 1.3 million b/d and for 2019 at 1.4 million b/d.
That forecast differed from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ Monthly Oil Market Report, which forecast a slowing of world demand growth by 40,000 b/d in 2018 and 70,000 b/d in 2019 (OGJ Online, Nov. 13, 2018).
Energy prices
The December light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped $4.24/bbl on Nov. 13 to $55.69/bbl. The January contract fell $4.24 to settle at $55.84/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for December jumped 31¢ to a rounded $4.10/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for December decreased 9¢ to $2.06/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for December fell 9¢ to a rounded $1.54/gal.
Brent crude oil for January dropped $4.65 to $65.47/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The February contract was down $4.58 to $65.81/bbl. The gas oil contract for December was $639/tonne, down $27.50.
OPEC’s basket of crudes for Nov. 13 averaged $67.01/bbl, down $2.81.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
