Related News
Crude extends plunge, ends below US$94
Online Edition
The price of oil extended a week-long plunge yesterday, falling 1.6 percent to below US$94 a barrel, as a rebounding US economy drove the dollar higher and signs continue to emerge that there is an ample supply of crude worldwide.
Benchmark US oil for February delivery fell US$1.48 to close at US$93.96 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international crude processed by many US refineries, fell 89 cents to close at US$106.89 a barrel in London.
US crude fell by US$2.98 on Thursday, the biggest one-day drop since November of 2012. Prices have fallen 6.4 percent over the past week, after oil closed above US$100 last Friday for first time since October.
A financial recovery in the US would typically drive oil prices higher, given the appetite of the world's largest economy. But that recovery has been driven in part by a massive bond-buying program at the Federal Reserve that has encouraged investors to buy commodities, which has pushed their prices higher.
The Fed recently began winding that program down, however. That is helping to boost the value of the dollar and leading investors away from oil.
A stronger dollar makes commodities such as oil that are priced in dollars more expensive for buyers using other currencies.
Demand is rising in the US, but supplies appear to be sufficient. The Energy Department reported Friday that average petroleum demand over the past four weeks rose 3.3 percent compared with last year. While oil stocks fell by 7 million barrels, that is "above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year," according to the weekly status report.
US oil production is rising dramatically, and there is a chance that additional sources of crude may soon become available.
Protests at one of Libya's largest oil fields reportedly ended Thursday, which could allow the field to restart production and deliver more than 300,000 barrels of daily production to the global market. Libya remains unstable, however, and on Sunday a militia group that shut down most of the nation's oil terminals for months threatened to cut off natural gas deliveries to the capital.
"While recent announcements of a similar nature have failed to materialize and the situation in the east of the country remains in a deadlock, the potential of additional sweet crude supplies are serving to weigh further," JBC Energy said from Vienna.
The US national average retail price of gasoline edged up less than a penny to US$3.33 per gallon, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express. That's the highest level ever for this time of year — 5 cents higher than last week and 4 cents higher than a year ago.
In other energy futures trading:
— Wholesale gasoline fell 4.6 cents to close at US$2.649 a gallon.
— Natural gas fell 1.4 cents to close at US$4.282 per 1,000 cubic feet.
— Heating oil fell 4.8 cents to close at US$2.939 a gallon.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
