Light, sweet crude oil prices for the January and February contracts rose modestly to settle below $52/bbl on the New York market Dec. 11 pending release of a weekly US government report on crude oil and product supplies.
On world markets, crude prices were supported after Libya’s National Oil Corp. announced force majeure on exports from El Sharara oil field following a recent attack by a militia group.
Commerzbank analysts said, “Just short of 400,000 b/d of Libyan oil are currently missing because production has been interrupted at Libya’s largest oil field.”
The American Petroleum Institute on Dec. 11 estimated US crude oil inventories fell 10.2 million bbl for the week ended Dec. 7.
The US Energy Information Administration was scheduled to release its crude and product inventory figures on Dec. 12. A Wall Street Journal survey of analysts and traders showed those polled expect the EIA will report oil supplies fell 2.8 million bbl for the week ended Dec. 7.
Separately, Barclays Research said it expects light, sweet crude prices will average $67/bbl for 2018 and $66/bbl for 2019. Barclays expected Brent crude oil prices will average $73/bbl for 2018 and $72/bbl for 2019.
Energy prices
The January light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 65¢ to close at $51.65/bbl. The February contract increased 64¢ to close at $51.84/bbl.
Natural gas futures for January declined nearly 14¢ to close at a rounded $4.41/MMbtu on Dec. 11.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for January edged up less than 1¢ to a rounded $1.85/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for January increased 2¢ to a rounded $1.44/gal.
Brent crude oil for February gained 23¢ to $60.20/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The March contract increased 25¢ to $60.35/bbl. The gas oil contract for December was $559.25/tonne, up $13.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Dec. 11 averaged $58.57/bbl, down 15¢ from the previous day.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
