NEW YORK--North Sea Brent crude oil futures fell 1% late Friday amid
renewed talk about the prospects for a release from strategic consumer
stockpiles amid stubborn high prices.
The Petroleum Economist, a monthly industry journal, on its website
quoted "several sources" who said a release could come as soon as
September in response to reduced supplies from Iran. The report said
an oil release could be as much as or more than the 60-million-barrel
release last year after Libya's supplies were cut by civil war.
The report quoted one source as saying the International Energy
Agency, which has opposed the plan, now supports it but has asked the
U.S. not to make a unilateral release.
ICE Brent crude prices have risen 11.4% over the past month, outpacing
gains in the U.S. benchmark, which has gained 9.2% from a month ago to
the highest levels since early May.
ICE Brent for October recently was down 1.2%, or $1.41, at $113.60 a
barrel, while Nymex crude was 9 cents lower at $96.18 a barrel.
Write to David Bird at david.bird@dowjones.com
***
Reported earlier:
Crude Posts Slim Gains as Market Tracks Storm
By David Bird
--U.S. durable goods orders stronger than expected
--Tropical Storm Isaac could be hurricane in Gulf by early Tuesday
--Pre-storm precautionary buying erases earlier losses
NEW YORK--Crude-oil futures prices were modestly higher early Friday
on cautious pre-weekend buying as traders tracked the potential for a
hurricane early next week in the key U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producing
and refining region.
The protective buying lifted prices from earlier slim losses that were
spurred by strength in the dollar, which discourages investors using
other currencies to stake out positions in dollar-based commodities,
like crude oil futures.
Futures had pared losses after a stronger-than-expected performance in
U.S. July durable goods orders. The Commerce Department reported a
4.2% rise in orders, with economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires
had expected a 3% rise.
But traders said concerns about forecasts for Tropical Storm Isaac to
strengthen into a hurricane in the U.S. Gulf by Tuesday brought buyers
off the sidelines. The potential for at least a temporary disruption
of Gulf output comes as tightening oil inventories in the world's
biggest oil consumer have pushed prices to their highest level since
early May in recent days. Heightened tensions in the Middle East and
increased rhetoric between Israel and Iran also argues against betting
against a steep price fall in the near term, traders said.
"There's a lot of underlying anxiety about Iran," said Andy Lebow,
senior vice president of energy futures at Jeffries Bache, noting a
New York Times report that international nuclear inspectors will
report soon that Iran may be speeding up production of nuclear fuel.
Stricter sanctions on Iran, including a European Union ban on oil
imports, has kept a premium in oil prices in recent months, analysts
said, despite moves by other producers to cover lost volumes.
October-delivery crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange
were trading 23 cents higher, at $96.50 a barrel. ICE October Brent
crude oil futures were 29 cents lower, at $114.73 a barrel.
In its 8 a.m. EDT advisory, the National Hurricane Center said
Tropical Storm Isaac's winds had picked up to 50 miles per hour as it
moved westward through the Caribbean and was expected to turn to the
northwest Friday evening. In its forecast tracking model, the NHC
shows Isaac moving over the island of Hispaniola later Friday and over
southeastern Cuba on Saturday.
By early late Sunday or early Monday, the tropical storm is expected
to make its approach to Florida, possibly passing along the state's
western coastline during the day before strengthening to hurricane
status in the Gulf by early Tuesday, the NHC said.
A landfall is expected around 2 a.m. EDT Wednesday anywhere from the
central Louisiana coastline to Florida--with the Florida panhandle and
Alabama coast border area at the mid-point of the NHC track.
Reformulated gasoline blendstock futures were trading higher for a
fifth day Friday, after rising 2.9%, or 8.8 cents, so far this week
and settling Thursday at the highest price since April 30. September
RBOB was 0.31 cent higher, at $3.1189 a gallon.
Heating oil for September was up 0.14 cent at $3.1344 a gallon. Prices
gained four cents this week, settling Thursday at the highest level
since May 2.
Write to David Bird at david.bird@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 24, 2012 03:15 ET (07:15 GMT)
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