domingo, 4 de enero de 2015

domingo, enero 04, 2015

Oil Markets

Oil Holds Losses After U.S. Inventory Data

Brent, WTI Both on Track to Finish 2014 at 5-Year Lows

By Nicole Friedman

Updated Dec. 31, 2014 1:12 p.m. ET

U.S. oil supplies fell by more than expected last week as refiners bought more crude, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Prices pared some losses on the news, but then quickly reversed the gains.

Crude stockpiles in Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for the Nymex contract, rose by 2 million barrels to a 10-month high. Low supplies in Cushing earlier in the year were a key factor pushing Nymex oil prices above $100 a barrel.

New pipelines have opened in recent months to bring oil from the Rocky Mountain region, North Dakota and Canada to storage facilities in Cushing, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

“We’ve steadily rebuilt those inventories” at Cushing, said Donald Morton, senior vice president at Herbert J. Sims & Co. “It’s just very bearish out there right now…I don’t see anybody wanting to pick a bottom just yet.”

The storage data also showed that supplies of petroleum products rose more than expected. Gasoline supplies rose by 3 million barrels, more than the expected 1.6-million-barrel gain. Distillate stocks, including heating oil and diesel, climbed by 1.9 million barrels, more than the expected 1.4 million barrels.

Production of both gasoline and distillate fuel oil hit all-time highs, according to weekly EIA data going back to August 1982.

“It’s apparent that refiners are turning the crude-oil surplus into a petroleum-product surplus,” Mr. Lipow said.

On Wednesday, China’s factory data showed more sluggishness, with the final reading of the HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index at 49.6 in December, down from 50 in November. A sub-50 figure indicates contraction.

China is the world’s second-largest consumer of oil and its manufacturing sector accounts for a big chunk of its fuel consumption.

“It’s difficult to see what will turn the market,” said David Wech at JBC Energy. “Most news coming in is relatively bearish and an upside to prices looks unlikely anytime soon.”

Speculators cut their aggregate bet that Nymex oil prices would rise in the week ended Dec. 23, the first reduction in four weeks, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Increased demand and reduced production due to lower prices will eventually balance the market, Mr. Wech said.

“But the balancing will take time, perhaps not before the middle of the second quarter of 2015,” he said. “The market will get worse before it gets better.”

Gasoline futures for January delivery recently fell 2.72 cents, or 19%, to $1.4265 a gallon. The January contract expires at settlement Wednesday. The more-actively traded February contract recently fell 2.06 cents, or 1.4%, to $1.4505 a gallon.

Diesel futures for January delivery fell 1.30 cents, or 0.7%, to $1.8558 a gallon. The February contract fell 1.63 cents, or 0.9%, to $1.8253 a gallon.


Georgi Kantchev and Eric Yep contributed to this article.

0 comments:

Publicar un comentario