Crude oil prices continued their downward trend as both Brent and WTI were traded down during most of the week. The disappointing news of the drop in the Philly Fed index may have been among the factors to drag down oil prices. The recent developments in the Europe mainly in Spain, France and Greece may have also adversely affected not only the oil market but also stocks and Forex markets. The oil stockpiles slightly rose during the previous week by 2.8M bl.
By the end of last week, WTI oil fell by 4.84% and Brent by nearly 3.63%; as a result, the gap between Brent and WTI reached $16.50/b on Friday.
Here is a short recap for the shifts in oil market (Brent and WTI) between May 14th and May 18th and a summary of the recent EIA petroleum and oil stockpiles report:
Oil Market – Weekly Summary
WTI oil price (spot) decreased again during last week by 4.84%; its weekly average price also declined by 3.99% to $93.12 per barrel, compared with last week’s $96.99 per barrel. The average daily percent change of oil price (WTI) was -0.99%.
NYMEX Oil Future (June delivery) also declined by 4.84% during the week, and reached $91.48/b by Friday, May 18th.
Europe Brent oil also fell during the week by 3.63% and the average price also declined by 2.46% compared with previous week’s average.
The gap between Brent and WTI spot slightly increased during the week as it ranged between $15 and $17; its average premium reached $16.65; it finished the week at $16.50.
Oil Charts
In the following charts (for the week ending on May 18th) are the daily changes in WTI spot oil, NYMEX Future (June delivery) and Brent oil:
The first chart shows the developments of WTI and Brent oil during last week: both oil rates have had a moderate downward trend during the week.
The second chart presents the shifts of the daily percent changes (i.e. shifts around the trend) of oil prices (WTI spot oil, WTI future, Brent spot):
According to the latest EIA report on the U.S Petroleum and oil market, for the week ending on May 11th, U.S. Petroleum stockpiles increased by 2.8 million bl and reached 1,769.922 million barrels.
The complete oil stockpiles review from May 16th.
For further reading: