U.S. crude futures edged lower but stayed above $71 a barrel on Thursday, paring Wednesday’s 0.8 percent gain that came on a weaker dollar and a rally in heating oil futures after government data showed a surprise dip in distillate supplies. For full story, click here
Iraq has agreed to sell more oil in the second half of this year than it was able to deliver in the first, leaving some customers concerned about expensive delays in their supplies. For full story, click here
The state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company reported that it will cut crude oil supplies for June by as much as 18 percent as the OPEC member state complies with the group’s last round of output reductions. For full story, click here
Oil prices vaulted 9 per cent in NY Thursday, in tandem with a powerful stocks rally, as investors cheered G20 agreements to combat the global downturn and an easing of US accounting rules. On Friday, oil prices settled above $52 a barrel, slightly lower on the day after a report that US unemployment in March soared to a 25-year high. But optimism that the economy will soon turn around curtailed losses.
U.S. crude oil supplies last week hit the highest level in nearly two years. Crude oil supplies surged 2 million barrels in the week ended March 13 to hit 353.3 million barrels. For full story, click here
Oil fell below $34 on Friday to its lowest level in almost five years as the global economic slowdown overshadowed OPEC’s record supply cuts. For full story, click here
OPEC’s meeting tomorrow will almost certainly result in talk of cutting production, but not much in the way of concerted action. Member nations’ motivations are not synchronized, so consensus is exceedingly unlikely. Iran wants to impose OPEC-wide decreases, but the UAE thinks current levels are appropriate. Although OPEC will not move together on this issue, some countries (notably Saudi Arabia) are likely to retrench significant volumes.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is all set to shutdown its Capline crude oil pipeline system today because of dwindling supplies from fields, as Hurricane Gustav approaches, the company reported in a statement. Shell was quoted as saying: As part of our planning, we have prepared systems that are closing to enable a timely restart following [...]
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