Total gasoline inventories increased by 1 million barrels last week, according to the EIA, and remain well above the upper limit of the five-year average range.
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Copper prices have fallen to their lowest in more than six years in a sell-off triggered by the attacks in Paris, a stronger dollar and poor demand prospects in top consumer China.
Front-month U.S. crude futures initially rose towards US$42 per barrel but then dipped back to US$41,69 a barrel early yesterday down 5 cents from its last settlement.
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Traditionally, such tensions do send oil prices upwards, albeit for a limited period.
“Oil prices have remained mostly unchanged on account of this report”.
Concerns over the global oversupply of oil (a glut) outweighed geopolitical risk factors in the light of the Parisian atrocity to keep a lid on crude prices as the week began. The Dollars index rises 0.21% to 99.68 levels, sitting near 7-month highs.
The Organization of Petroleum Countries has kept up production to pressure high-cost rivals, such as the developing USA shale oil producers.
Also adding to a picture of a well-supplied market, Saudi Arabia raised its oil exports in September by 113,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.111 million bpd from 6.998 million bpd in the previous month, official data showed on Wednesday. Oil dropped to an intraday low for the year of $37.75 on August 24.
While future global demand will primarily emanate from such fast-growing population centers as Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa, the future beneficiaries of this growth will likely come from the Brent crude producers, not the U.S. This will make foreign Brent crude more expensive, while widening the gap between WTI and Brent crude.
Global oil prices moved modestly higher on Wednesday (Nov 18) as traders weighed a small gain in USA inventories and a Federal Reserve report that supported expectations of a December interest rate hike. However, in the Bayou City, often referred to as the nation’s “energy hub”, low gas prices mean a weakened local economy.
“The market is flip-flopping about what the French attacks mean”, said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. First, oil storage levels have risen quickly in recent weeks, pointing to an ongoing (and maybe even increasing) problem of oversupply.
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