Category: Oil Markets

WTI finished the week down $3.07, the first weekly decline in the last four. This weeks begins with a lot of potential market-moving huddling in the wings. AIPAC is beginning its 2012 policy conference, just as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrives in Washington to confer with President Obama about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.… Read more

A post-settlement report of a pipeline fire in Saudi Arabia drove prices to levels not seen since last Spring. Official denial from the Saudis sparked a reversal of almost $2.00 before the electronic session concluded for the day. While the report should have been greeted more skeptically, considering it emanated from Iranian media, the subsequent “rugby scrum” of trading activity does demonstrate with brutal clarity…

Competing interpretations of economics and politics moved prices across the landscape yesterday as successive headlines favored one camp, then the other. In the end though, participants favored security, as prices finished closer to the day’s high than the new lower mark of 104.84.… Read more

Price action was confined to negative territory for almost the entire NYMEX session yesterday, but threatened to rise above almost the entire time, as well. The capitulation came after Europe closed, posting a session low of 106.30 before recovering somewhat. Exposure to demand diminution consequent to higher prices in a weak economic environment is apparently trumping Iran as a primary concern.… Read more

The February rally dead-ended at 110.00. Losses extended $2.00 in post-settlement trading, as well. Skepticism relative to the effectiveness of the European bailout package has momentarily trumped concerns over Iran, but neither is going away and are, in fact, inextricably linked.… Read more

Weekend reportage was all about the run up in oil prices and its multitude of implications. Of course then, it was almost a certain that prices would go down, and they have. The main topic of the G-20 summit was on resolving the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone.… Read more

NYMEX crude prices keep pushing higher as Iran distracts from flagging demand. Anxiety over a potential confrontation keeps rising. The latest issue is Iran’s refusal to allow the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency access to areas targeted for inspection. Simultaneously, the US is attempting to squeeze Iran more, trying to find alternative sources for some of Iran’s largest customers.… Read more

Bears have gone into total hibernation with the focus on Iran and the mischief they can cause. Crude oil prices have now risen to the highest level since May of 2011 when the Libyan civil war was in full swing. The latest form of Iranian intransigence comes as a refusal to let inspectors visit Iran’s nuclear sites, which makes it look like they have something to hide…

Some disappointing economic dat points hit the tape overnight from both Europe and China, where the euro zone PMI fell below 50 and, according to an HSBC report, China is heading for a period of slower growth. There has not been very much celebratory reaction to the Greek debt deal; instead, the focus has shifted to the other troubled economies in Europe.… Read more

NYMEX crude oil prices ended the week on the rise as participants pared exposure to threats from Iran, in the run up to the long holiday weekend. Their fears were confirmed with Sunday’s announcement by Iran’s oil ministry that it had stopped selling to British and French companies.… Read more