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Commodity News |
HeadLine : |
NYMEX crude eases further in holiday-thinned Asian trade |
Date : |
Feb 11 2016 |
Crude oil prices fell further in Asia
on Thursday in holiday -thinned trade with the key markets of Japan
and China shut.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange,
WTI crude for March delivery fell 1.97% to $26.91 a barrel.
Overnight, U.S. crude inched down on
Wednesday, remaining near 12-year lows, as investors reacted to an
unexpected draw in U.S. crude inventories last week and continued
speculation that a host of major global producers could cut output in
order to stem the prolonged downturn in oil prices worldwide.
Since spiking more than 8% last
Wednesday, U.S. crude future have closed lower in five straight
sessions while trading below $30 a barrel in each of the last three
days.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE),
Brent crude for April delivery wavered between $30.35 and $31.88 a
barrel, before closing at $30.91, up 0.62 or 2.06% on the session.
With the slight gains, North Sea brent futures halted a five-day
losing streak during which prices fell below $31 a barrel for the
first time in two weeks. On Tuesday, brent prices plunged more than
$2.50 a barrel amid continuing worries related to the ongoing global
supply glut.
While Brent futures have performed
better than their U.S. counterpart since the start of February, the
international benchmark is still down by 15% since January 1.
On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said in its Weekly Petroleum Status
Report that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories for the week ending
on February 5, decreased by 754,000 barrels from the previous week.
At 502.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil stockpiles still remain near
levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.
Total motor gasoline inventories also increased by 1.3 million
barrels last week, extending gains from the previous four weeks.
Following a significant build of 7.792
million barrels a week earlier, analysts expected an increase of at
least 2.85 million barrels for the period. A bearish report by the
American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday evening also did little to
temper expectations, after the API reported a build of 2.4 million
barrels last week. Crude inventories at this time of the year
typically rise sharply as refineries prepare for the summer driving
season.
Meanwhile, U.S. production fell by
28,000 barrels per day to 9.186 million bpd last week, marking the
first time output dipped below the 9.2 million threshold on the new
year. U.S. crude futures briefly turned positive in afternoon
trading, before reversing course near the end of the session.
Elsewhere, Iran oil minister Bijan
Zangeneh told reporters on Tuesday that his nation is willing to
negotiate with Saudi Arabia on measures that could help stabilize
persistently low oil prices. At the same time, Igor Sechin, the
Kremlin's oil chief, floated a proposal that would require major oil
producers to cut output by as much as 1 million barrels per day in
the coming weeks.
"We support any form of dialogue
and cooperation with OPEC member states, including Saudi Arabia,"
Zangeneh told the Islamic Republic News Agency. "If there were a
strong political will, the price of oil would have been balanced
within one single week."
Investors have expressed intense
skepticism in recent weeks that such a deal can be reached.
In Washington, Federal Reserve chair
Janet Yellen noted in testimony before the U.S. House of
Representatives Financial Services Committee that the considerable
price declines in oil has led to an increase in layoffs in the energy
industry.
"We're taking account of the fact
that the energy sector has been hard hit," Yellen testified.
"We're seeing massive drawbacks in drilling activity and that's
rippling through to manufacturing where output has been depressed."
Source:-Forexpros
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