Crude oil prices plummeted during last week mainly on Thursday after the FOMC revised down its projection on the U.S economy and in an effort to help jumpstart the economy only extended its operation twist without adding another expanding stimulus plan. The U.S Philly Fed Index also didn’t come out positive and declined in June. These news items may have contributed to the fall of commodities prices. to trade down during the previous week.
The oil stockpiles increased again during the previous week by 11 M bl.
By the end of last week, WTI oil fell by 5.56% and Brent by 7.05%; as a result, the difference between Brent and WTI reached $11.01/b on Friday.
Here is a short review for the price changes in oil (Brent and WTI) between June 18th and June 22nd and a summary of the recent EIA petroleum and crude oil stockpiles weekly update:
Oil Market – Weekly Summary
WTI oil price (spot) fell during last week by 5.56%; its weekly average price declined by 2.47% to $81.26 per barrel, compared with last week’s $83.32 per barrel. The average daily percent change of oil price (WTI) was -1.11%.
NYMEX Oil Future (short term delivery) also plummeted by 5.08% during the week, and reached $79.76/b by Friday, June 22nd.
Europe Brent oil plunged as well during the week by 7.05% and the average price declined by 4.62% compared with previous week’s average.
The gap between Brent and WTI spot narrowed during the week as it ranged between $10 and $12; its average premium reached $11.22; it finished the week at $11.01.
Oil Charts
In the following charts (for the week ending on June 22nd) are the daily changes in WTI spot oil, NYMEX Future (short term delivery) and Brent oil:
The first chart shows the movement of WTI and Brent oil during last week: WTI and Brent oil had a downward trend mainly during the second part of the week.
In the second chart are the daily percent shifts (i.e. shifts around the trend) of oil prices (WTI spot oil, WTI future, Brent spot):
Oil Stockpiles –Review:
According to the recent EIA report on the U.S Petroleum and oil market, for the week ending on June 15th, U.S. Petroleum stockpiles hiked by 11 million bl and reached 1,795.497 million barrels.
The complete oil stockpiles review from June 15th.
For further reading: