Benchmark oil prices continue to rise on Wednesday afternoon amid concerns over Hurricane Idalia and the situation in Gabon.
The price of October futures for Brent on the London-based ICE Futures exchange at 14:29 Q2 is $86.02 per barrel, up $0.53 (0.62%) from the previous session’s close.
Quotes of futures for WTI crude oil for October at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by the specified time increased by $0.56 (0.69%) and amounted to $81.72 per barrel.
Tropical Storm Idalia strengthened to a hurricane the day before, the National Hurricane Warning Service (National Hurricane Center, NRC) of the United States reported. On Wednesday, it was assigned category three on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Meteorologists expect Idalia to further strengthen to an “extremely dangerous” category four storm. It is forecast to cause a dangerous rise in ocean levels and heavy downpours.
The Gulf of Mexico, where the hurricane is raging, accounts for about 15% and 5% of all U.S. oil and gas production, respectively, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Market participants are also assessing signals about changes in energy stocks in the States and following the situation in Gabon, where a group of military officers announced the deposition of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been in power for 14 years and was re-elected for a third term on Saturday.
According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), oil inventories in the States collapsed by 11.5 million barrels last week.
Official data from the U.S. Department of Energy will be released at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast that the data will indicate a reduction in oil stocks by 5.2 million barrels, gasoline – by 600 thousand barrels, distillates – by 1.4 million barrels.
Meanwhile, analysts still see no signs of disruptions in oil production in Gabon, a member of OPEC, writes MarketWatch.
Benchmark oil prices are slightly rising on Monday morning. Last Friday, quotes rose, but ended in the red for the second week in a row.
The price of October futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:19 a.m. is $84.53 per barrel, which is 5 cents (0.06%) higher than at the close of the previous session. Last Friday, these contracts rose by $1.12 (1.3%) to $84.48 per barrel.
Quotes for WTI futures for October in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by 11 cents (0.14%) to $79.94 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $0.78 (1%) to $79.83 per barrel.
Last week, Brent fell by 0.4% and WTI by 1%.
Oil market participants are evaluating the speech of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. According to him, the Fed is not done fighting high inflation and may raise interest rates again if necessary.
“We stand ready to raise rates even higher if necessary, and we intend to maintain a restrictive monetary policy until we have confidence that inflation is moving steadily downward toward our target,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have announced new measures to support the economy, which relate to the housing market and the stock market.
“The news of further stimulus in China has provided additional support,” said Warren Patterson of ING Groep NV. – “However, prices are likely to remain in a certain range in the short term, given the continuing concerns about shrinking demand and rising supply.
Meanwhile, data from the oilfield services company Baker Hughes showed that over the past week, the number of operating oil rigs in the United States decreased by 8 units to 512, which is the lowest since February 2022.
Oil prices rise on Friday morning, but end in the negative for the second week in a row on signals of weak demand in China and expectations of further tightening of monetary policy in the United States.
Traders’ attention on Friday is focused on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole.
It is believed that he will outline in his speech what factors the Fed will consider when deciding when to finalize the rise in the benchmark interest rate and when it is time to start lowering it.
October Brent crude futures on the London-based ICE Futures exchange at 8:15 a.m. Q4 on Friday stand at $83.63 per barrel, up $0.27 (0.32%) from the previous session’s closing price. On Thursday, these contracts rose $0.15 (0.2%) to $83.36 per barrel.
The price of WTI oil futures for October at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) increased by $0.28 (0.35%) to $79.33 per barrel. At the end of previous trading, the cost of these contracts rose by $0.16 (0.2%), to $79.05 per barrel.
Since the beginning of this week, Brent has fallen in price by 1.4%, WTI – by 2.4%.
Citigroup analyst Ed Morse said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that key OPEC members may have to further reduce oil production as members of the organization, who have struggled with production in recent years, have begun to ramp it up.
Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela will increase production by a total of 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year and at least the same amount next year, Citi said. This will be enough to meet oil demand, Morse noted.
As a result, Saudi Arabia and a number of other states will have to further reduce production, which could become a serious problem for them, the expert said.
Benchmark oil prices are little changed on Thursday morning after declines in the previous three sessions.
The price of October Brent futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange is at $83.2 per barrel by 8:09 a.m. Q4, down 1 cent (0.01%) from the previous session’s close. On Wednesday, these contracts fell in price by $0.82 (1%) – to $83.21 per barrel.
Quotes of futures for WTI crude oil for October at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by the specified time decreased by 5 cents (0.06%) and amounted to $78.84 per barrel. At the end of the last session they fell by $0.75 (0.9%) – to $78.89 per barrel.
The day before, Brent ended trading at the lowest since August 2, WTI – since July 26.
Commercial oil inventories in the U.S. last week decreased by 6.13 million barrels, according to the weekly report of the country’s Energy Department. Experts surveyed by Bloomberg expected a decrease in oil reserves by 3 million barrels.
Meanwhile, commercial reserves of gasoline increased by 1.47 million barrels, distillates – increased by 945 thousand barrels. Analysts predicted a decrease in gasoline reserves by 481 thousand barrels and an increase in distillate reserves by 698 thousand barrels.
Inventories at the Cushing terminal, where NYMEX-traded crude is stored, fell 3.13 million barrels after dropping 837,000 barrels a week earlier.
“The data pointed to a sharp drop in oil inventories overall and also at the Cushing terminal,” Tariq Zahir, managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors, told MarketWatch. According to him, the decline in quotations observed in recent days may be replaced by growth amid production cuts in Saudi Arabia and storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico.
Benchmark crude oil prices are down slightly on Tuesday morning after declining the previous day.
The price of October futures for Brent on the London-based ICE Futures exchange at 8:00 a.m. Q4 is at $84.34 per barrel, down 12 cents (0.14%) from the previous session’s close. On Monday, these contracts fell in price by $0.34 (0.4%) – to $84.46 per barrel.
Quotes of futures for WTI crude oil for September at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by the specified time decreased by 2 cents (0.02%) and amounted to $80.7 per barrel. At the end of the last session they fell by $0.53 (0.7%) – to $80.72 per barrel.
Negative factors for the market in recent days are concerns about the slow growth of the Chinese economy and strengthening of the dollar on expectations of new Fed rate hikes.
“Overall, oil demand and prices are being held back by slowing global economic growth and a global recession in the manufacturing sector,” said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics.
However, OPEC forecasts still call for global oil demand growth of more than 2% in 2023 and 2024, Schenker noted. In addition, data from the U.S. Department of Energy indicate a decline in crude stockpiles in annual terms.
Benchmark crude oil prices are rising on Thursday afternoon amid a weaker US dollar.
The price of October futures for Brent on the London-based ICE Futures exchange at 14:54 Q2 stands at $84.18 per barrel, up 73 cents (0.87%) from the previous session’s close.
Quotes of futures for WTI crude oil for September at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by the specified time rose by 72 cents (0.91%) and amounted to $80.1 per barrel.
The DXY index, which reflects the value of the U.S. currency against six other major world currencies, is down 0.2% in Thursday trading, boosting the appeal of commodities traded there.
“Bulls” in the oil market are seeking to break a streak of three consecutive sessions in the negative, associated with concerns about demand from China and rising US Treasuries yields, among other things, writes MarketWatch.
After the release of strong macroeconomic data, the yield on 10-year U.S. government bonds reached the maximum since 2008, the online edition notes. Meanwhile, weak statistics from the People’s Republic of China and increased concerns about the Chinese real estate market had a negative impact on the assessment of the prospects for consumption by the economy of this country.
