WTI Slips After Three-Day Gain Before Supply Data; Brent Falls West Texas Intermediate crude slid after a three-day advance before the release of fuel-supply data in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent also declined. New York oil futures fell as much as 0.3 percent. Total U.S. crude inventories declined for a seventh time in the week ended Aug. 8, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. Gasoline supplies shrank while distillate stockpiles grew, the survey shows. “We’ve reversed all of the overnight gains we saw for West Texas, and that’s not surprising,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “There’s a clear trend downward here. The market continues to focus on supply.” WTI for September delivery fell as much as 31 cents to $97.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $97.81 at 11:22 a.m. Singapore time. The contract gained 0.4 percent yesterday to $98.08, the highest close since Aug. 4. The volume of all futures traded was about 38 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 0.6 percent this year. Brent for September settlement dropped as much as 0.2 percent, or 24 cents, to $104.44 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, near the lowest closing price since November 2013. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.64 to WTI, compared with $6.60 yesterday. Fuel Supplies U.S. crude inventories probably shrank by 1.75 million barrels to 363.9 million, according to the median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg before the EIA report. Stockpiles dropped to 365.6 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 1, the lowest level since Feb. 28, according to EIA. Gasoline supplies fell by 1.5 million barrels to 212.3 million, the survey shows. Distillate stockpiles, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably expanded by 200,000 barrels. The country’s peak driving season typically runs from the end of May to Labor Day in September. The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release separate supply data today. The industry-funded group in Washington collects data on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the EIA. In Iraq, crude exports may exceed 2.5 million barrels a day in August, up by 2.5 percent from July. Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad yesterday. The Middle-East country, which is producing 3.3 million barrels a day from the southern and central regions, will boost output to 3.5 million barrels a day on average this year, according to al-Luaibi.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:53:33 +0000
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