Crude oil price declined today for the second day, this time, however, by a larger decline of over 2.2% for the WTI spot price. This drop is speculated to be because of the recent EIA report about Crude oil stocks in the U.S. It’s hard to have a certain cause stand out and explain this recent fall, and I think it will be more prudent to see if there is a shift in the recent upward trend, or this recent fall is just noise.
Bear in mind that crude oil price (WTI spot) rose by 2.7% from the beginning of December up to now, thus this recent fall could be interpreted as a short term correction and not necessarily a shift in this moderate upward trend.
Crude oil Stocks of the passing week:
According to the recent EIA report, crude oil stocks continue to fall moderately, this time by 0.5%, which is a drop of over 9 million barrels of crude oil. This ongoing decline is part of the rise in demand for energy throughout the US mainly for heating purposes.
The stocks of total gasoline also declined by 1.1% which is 2.3 million barrels, and reached 214.8 million barrels.
After finished motor gasoline stocks had inclined moderately according to the previous report, in this week’s report they have fallen, as part of its downward trend during November – December, by 2.1% which is 1.5 million barrels reaching 68.8 million barrels, which is a very low count.
Propane: the cold weather throughout the U.S. and mainly the Northeast is one of the main reasons for the continuous rise in propane consumption; thus, propane stocks continue to fall dramatically, last week by 2.4 million barrels which is a 4.2% decline – reaching 55.2 million barrels – the lowest level since July 2010.
Price Update
Here is an update on the prices of main energy commodities and precious metals for December 30th (all times GMT):
Energy prices
Crude oil price (WTI spot) is trading as of 17.47 PM GMT at 89.05 USD per barrel, a decrease of 2.27% compare to yesterday.
Crude oil price (Dated Brent spot) is at 92.14 USD / barrel – a 1.45 USD/ barrel decrease as of 18.07 PM.
The nymex crude oil price, short term futures (February 2011 delivery), on the New York Mercantile Exchange, is traded at 89.16 USD / barrel, a 1.96 USD/b decline or a 2.15% fall, as of 18.01 PM.
Natural Gas futures prices (Nymex Henry Hub Future) are currently traded at 4.27 USD/ MMBTU (one million BTU), an increase of 0.02 USD/ MMBTU, or 0.49%, as of 17.57 PM.
Precious Metal prices
Gold prices (short term February delivery future) are also falling and are traded at 1,405 USD /t. oz., a moderate 0.57% decrease or 8.1 USD /t. oz. at 18.09 PM.
Silver prices, continues broke the recent rally and are traded at 30.46 $/t oz. a 0.79% decrease or 0.244 $/t oz. as of 18.09 PM.
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