Share

Oil prices edge up on reports of falling inventories, higher refinery runs

“The current level of worldwide product prices of petrol and diesel and INR-USD exchange rate warrant an increase in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision”, Indian Oil said in a statement here.

Advertisement

Crude prices pushed higher Monday after US-led coalition jets targeted the Islamic State group s oil operations in retaliation following the deadly attacks on Paris. Warplanes bombed Islamic State’s nerve centre in Raqqa after France said Europe’s worst terror attack in a decade was directed from Syria and launched from Belgium.

Other analysts also said that oil and many raw material prices would remain under pressure from fundamentals as production remains high despite slowing global economic growth, especially from China but also Japan, which slipped back into recession in the third quarter.

The October boost came as the 70,000 b/d capacity Zueitina terminal loaded a cargo of crude early in the month, its first in more than four months, according to ship-tracking data and market sources.

In September, when the weather starts to cool in some parts of the kingdom, crude oil directly burnt to generate power dropped from the month before to 744,000 bpd, the JODI data showed.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery shed 94 cents to stand at 43.53 a barrel in late London deals.

Some analysts say prices could test the psychologically important $40 level again, because the global market remains oversupplied.

“This massive cushion has inflated even as the global oil market adjusts to $50 per barrel”, said IEA.

“The well supplied crude market, record high inventories in OECD and lack of a material threat to the oil facilities in the Middle East from the military escalation against IS in Syria are going to prevent geopolitical premiums building in oil prices in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks”, BMI Research said. “The market is still oversupplied and yesterday was an adjusting of positions after these awful events”, PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga said.

Front-month US crude futures broke back above $41 a barrel, trading at $41.06 a barrel at 0352 GMT, up 32 cents from their last close. It suggests bearish momentum for crude oil prices.

Advertisement

A narrower spread tends to encourage a greater flow of oil from overseas into the US market as crude grades that are pegged to the pricier Brent benchmark become more affordable.

Oil Price: Economic Gloom To Persist – World Energy Report