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Oil bounces as refinery, crude outages lift
Source: Agencies |
February 9, 2011, Wednesday
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OIL prices rebounded yesterday, with Brent crude pushing above US$100 a barrel, as gasoline futures rallied on refinery outages and lifted crude futures after they had been pressured by China's second interest rate increase in six weeks.
Bomb attacks shutting a crude pipeline in Colombia and reduced crude oil flow feeding the Poseidon Pipeline in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico added lift to crude prices.
Traders and brokers also pointed to Egypt's continuing political uncertainty, reinforcing concerns about the potential for supply interruptions, as another factor helping oil prices shrug off the effect of China's latest move to curb inflation.
The Suez Canal was operating normally and strikes at companies owned by the Suez Authority did not involve canal operations, a senior canal official told Reuters.
In London, ICE Brent crude for March was up 71 cents at US$99.96 a barrel at 11:58 a.m. EST (1658 GMT), having traded from US$97.51 to US$100.42.
U.S. crude oil for March delivery was 22 cents higher at US$87.70 a barrel, bouncing from an US$85.88 low.
Even with the price volatility, Brent's premium to its U.S. crude counterpart was above US$12 a barrel and the spread had widened to US$12.69 earlier.
U.S. gasoline futures rose nearly 2 percent, helped by news that a loss of steam forced Valero Energy Corp to shut down a gasoline-making unit at its 287,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The company said it was not clear when the unit would restart.
This Valero outage followed units being shut at its Aruba refinery. More lift for the complex came from news a Gulf of Mexico oil platform feeding the Poseidon Pipeline was down, reducing flows on a system that contributes about one-eighth of U.S. Gulf crude oil output, market sources said yesterday.
Adding to concerns about supply vulnerabilities, Colombia's 48,000-barrel-per-day Transandino oil pipeline was halted by two suspected rebel bomb attacks, though exports and production were affected, according to state-run Ecopetrol.
Crude prices on both sides of the Atlantic fell sharply earlier, after China moved to tame inflation with an interest rate increase, the second in just over six weeks.
Bomb attacks shutting a crude pipeline in Colombia and reduced crude oil flow feeding the Poseidon Pipeline in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico added lift to crude prices.
Traders and brokers also pointed to Egypt's continuing political uncertainty, reinforcing concerns about the potential for supply interruptions, as another factor helping oil prices shrug off the effect of China's latest move to curb inflation.
The Suez Canal was operating normally and strikes at companies owned by the Suez Authority did not involve canal operations, a senior canal official told Reuters.
In London, ICE Brent crude for March was up 71 cents at US$99.96 a barrel at 11:58 a.m. EST (1658 GMT), having traded from US$97.51 to US$100.42.
U.S. crude oil for March delivery was 22 cents higher at US$87.70 a barrel, bouncing from an US$85.88 low.
Even with the price volatility, Brent's premium to its U.S. crude counterpart was above US$12 a barrel and the spread had widened to US$12.69 earlier.
U.S. gasoline futures rose nearly 2 percent, helped by news that a loss of steam forced Valero Energy Corp to shut down a gasoline-making unit at its 287,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The company said it was not clear when the unit would restart.
This Valero outage followed units being shut at its Aruba refinery. More lift for the complex came from news a Gulf of Mexico oil platform feeding the Poseidon Pipeline was down, reducing flows on a system that contributes about one-eighth of U.S. Gulf crude oil output, market sources said yesterday.
Adding to concerns about supply vulnerabilities, Colombia's 48,000-barrel-per-day Transandino oil pipeline was halted by two suspected rebel bomb attacks, though exports and production were affected, according to state-run Ecopetrol.
Crude prices on both sides of the Atlantic fell sharply earlier, after China moved to tame inflation with an interest rate increase, the second in just over six weeks.
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