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Oil down slightly as fiscal-cliff talks continue
December 29, 2012, Saturday
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THE price of oil fell slightly yesterday, as the stock market drifted lower and efforts continued in Washington to strike a budget deal before the year-end deadline.
US benchmark crude fell 7 cents to finish at US$90.80 a barrel in New York. In London, Brent crude, used to price various kinds of foreign oil, fell 18 cents to finish at US$110.62 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Hopes that a budget compromise might be reached were still alive as congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House. The Republican-dominated House is set to meet Sunday and stay in session until January 2, the day before the new Congress is sworn in. Without a budget deal, automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts could send the economy into recession, economists say.
Traders are also weighing rising energy supplies.
Phil Flynn, of the Price Futures Group, said that a government report Friday showed US oil production hit its highest point since March of 1993, at nearly 7 million barrels per day.
The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said that US crude supplies fell by 600,000 barrels last week but were still 13 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts expected a drop of 2 million barrels, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Supplies at the crude delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose to an all-time high of 49.2 million barrels, more than 20 million barrels above year-ago levels.
Gasoline supplies increased by 3.8 million barrels, well above the 250,000-barrel increase that analysts forecast. Demand for gasoline at the wholesale level is nearly 3 percent lower than a year ago.
Flynn also said traders were looking beyond the fiscal cliff to supply changes in the new year. Next month the pipeline flow between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Texas will increase. That means more buyers can access that oil, so Flynn expects higher prices for crude. And with much of the US facing its real first cold snap of the winter - with the coldest temperatures in two years - Flynn said many traders expect more demand for petroleum products.
In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange:
- Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to end at US$2.80 a gallon.
- Heating oil fell 3 cents to finish at US$3.04 a gallon.
- Natural gas rose 6 cents to end at US$3.47 per 1,000 cubic feet.
US benchmark crude fell 7 cents to finish at US$90.80 a barrel in New York. In London, Brent crude, used to price various kinds of foreign oil, fell 18 cents to finish at US$110.62 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Hopes that a budget compromise might be reached were still alive as congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House. The Republican-dominated House is set to meet Sunday and stay in session until January 2, the day before the new Congress is sworn in. Without a budget deal, automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts could send the economy into recession, economists say.
Traders are also weighing rising energy supplies.
Phil Flynn, of the Price Futures Group, said that a government report Friday showed US oil production hit its highest point since March of 1993, at nearly 7 million barrels per day.
The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said that US crude supplies fell by 600,000 barrels last week but were still 13 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts expected a drop of 2 million barrels, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Supplies at the crude delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose to an all-time high of 49.2 million barrels, more than 20 million barrels above year-ago levels.
Gasoline supplies increased by 3.8 million barrels, well above the 250,000-barrel increase that analysts forecast. Demand for gasoline at the wholesale level is nearly 3 percent lower than a year ago.
Flynn also said traders were looking beyond the fiscal cliff to supply changes in the new year. Next month the pipeline flow between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Texas will increase. That means more buyers can access that oil, so Flynn expects higher prices for crude. And with much of the US facing its real first cold snap of the winter - with the coldest temperatures in two years - Flynn said many traders expect more demand for petroleum products.
In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange:
- Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to end at US$2.80 a gallon.
- Heating oil fell 3 cents to finish at US$3.04 a gallon.
- Natural gas rose 6 cents to end at US$3.47 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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