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Crude oil is trading at 104.00 this morning surging on Wednesday evening after the release of the official EIA inventory. WTI oil prices gained by more than 1.5 percent in yesterday’s trading session and touched a one month high after the EIA report released last night showed large draw in commercial crude stocks, while renewed fighting in Libya that kept output low boosted Brent prices. Explosions and fighting were heard in Tripoli on Wednesday, two days after gunmen stormed parliament amid a surge in violence in the OPEC member country. National output in Libya edged higher to 230,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from 210,000 bpd on Monday but still a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd the country produced before the 2011 war. Two large oilfields were still shut 10 days after the government said protests there were over.
The EIA released its weekly inventories report showing US crude oil inventories declined by 7.3 million barrels for the week ending on 16th May 2014. Gasoline stocks rose by nearly 1 million barrels whereas distillate inventories rose by 3.4 million barrels for the same time period. Demand for crude, particularly gasoline usually increases during the month of June-Sep as US moves along its summer driving season which starts officially on the last Monday on May month. While refinery rates were little changed last week, traders feel as we near the summer season, consumption for gasoline would increase while refinery run rates too would rise.
Crude oil reached a one-month high on Wednesday, after the government reported a large draw in commercial crude stocks, while renewed fighting in Libya that kept output low boosted Brent prices. Brent oil rose 9 cents this morning to trade at 110.56. Libya’s major western oilfields remain closed 10 days after the government said protesters blocking pipeline flows had agreed to leave, while total oil output edged higher, a spokesman for National Oil Corp said on Wednesday.
TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative to its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girdling said on Wednesday.
China’s April crude imports from Iran more than doubled from a year ago to a record of nearly 800,000 barrels per day (bpd), pushing imports in the first four months of 2014 above levels seen before tougher Western sanctions were applied in 2012.
Natural gas is trading at 4.483 in the green this morning but remaining in a tight range ahead of today’s EIA inventory release and lack of seasonal demand ahead of summer. U.S. natural gas futures ended down almost 2 percent on expectations for a bigger than normal storage build despite forecasts for much stronger than normal cooling demand. Analysts forecast utilities added 102 billion cubic feet of gas into storage last week, well above the year-before and five-year average builds of 90 bcf. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its gas storage report and inventories are expected to show a surplus. - Fxempire.com
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