Bunker prices expected to edge downwards next week
The Bunker Review is contributed by Marine Bunker Exchange
West Texas Intermediate crude fell for the second time in three days after industry data showed fuel supplies I increased in the U.S., world’s largest oil consumer. Brent fell in London.
Futures dropped as much as 0.9 percent in New York. Gasoline and distillate inventories each expanded by 400 000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report yesterday. Government data today is forecast to show stockpiles of the motor fuel shrank by 1.4 million barrels. WTI’s moving average have formed a “death cross”, a bearish chart signal.
Brent of October settlement fell 20 cents to $101.57 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
WTI is down 0.9 percent this week, extending a second monthly loss in August. U.S. crude inventories shrank by 500 000 barrels in the seven days ended Aug. 29, the API reported. The API in Washington collects information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines, while the government requires that reports be filed with the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm. It has been a mixed six weeks of draws and gains on supplies during the peak U.S. driving period that ends on Labor Day, 1st September. The price volatility doesn’t justify the economics behind it.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Ukraine counterpart Petro Poroshenko agreed on Wednesday to work on a “cease-fire regime” and take steps to end a conflict that the United S Nations says has killed 2,600 people and displaced more than 1 million. – The announcement came as U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headed to the U.K. for an annual meeting of the military bloc. which was created in 1949 in part to counter the Soviet Union. Russia is the world’s largest energy exporter.
In Libya, the group that controls the nation’s biggest oil port pledged to work with the government to keep crude flowing to international markets and defend fields against any advance by Islamist militias that seized Tripoli. Libya is a member of OPEC.
So, we expect that bunker prices will likely move downward in the coming week.
All prices stated in USD / Mton
All time high Brent = $147.50 (July 11, 2008)
All time high Light crude (WTI) = $147.27 (July 11, 2008)