Brent crude oil for December settled under $80/bbl on the London market Oct. 18 while light, sweet oil for November and December settled under $69/bbl in New York.
The Oct. 18 Brent settlement was the lowest since Sept. 21. Earlier this month, Brent briefly reached above $85/bbl although it failed to settle at that level. Crude oil benchmark prices since fell, which analysts attributed to stock market volatility worldwide.
In addition, the International Energy Agency lowered its world oil demand growth forecasts for 2018-19, citing macroeconomics and emerging market weakness.
The Paris-based IEA lowered its world oil demand growth estimate by about 110,000 b/d to 1.3 million b/d for 2018 and by 110,000 b/d to 1.4 million b/d for 2019 (OGJ Online, Oct. 12, 2018).
Earlier this month, Fatih Birol, IEA’s executive director, told Bloomberg in an interview that oil prices are “entering the red zone,” which could prompt lower oil consumption.
Energy prices
The light, sweet crude contract for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.10 to $68.65/bbl on Oct. 18. The December contract dropped 99¢ to settle at $68.71/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for November fell 12¢ to a rounded $3.20/MMbtu.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for November fell nearly 2¢ to a rounded $2.29/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for November dropped nearly 3¢ to $1.89/gal.
Brent crude oil for December declined 76¢ to $79.29/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The January contract fell 88¢ to $78.75/bbl. The gas oil contract for November rose $2.50 on Oct. 18 to close at $713.75/tonne.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes for Oct. 18 averaged $78.25/bbl, down $1.25.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
