Crude oil prices bounced back from their tumble during the previous week. On Thursday Bernanke testified in the Senate; he voiced his concerns around the European debt crisis as it may affect the US economy but he didn’t say he has any new plans of another stimulus plan; he just kept the door open on QE3. This news may have helped drag down commodities prices including oil.
On Thursday Bank of China cut the interest rates by 0.25 percent points for the first time since 2008. This signaled the economic conditions in China start to worry BOC. This news may have also pulled down commodities prices.
The oil stockpiles increased again during the previous week by 6.8M bl.
By the end of last week, WTI oil rose by 1.05% and Brent by nearly 0.84%; as a result, the difference between Brent and WTI reached $15.58/b on Friday.
Here is a short review for the price developments in oil (Brent and WTI) between June 4th and June 8th and a summary of the recent EIA petroleum and oil stockpiles weekly report:
Oil Market – Weekly Summary
WTI oil price (spot) slightly rose during last week by 1.05%; its weekly average price fell by 3.82% to $84.44 per barrel, compared with last week’s $87.8 per barrel. The average daily percent change of oil price (WTI) was 0.21%.
NYMEX Oil Future (short term delivery) also slightly increased by 1.05% during the week, and reached $84.1/b by Friday, June 8th.
Europe Brent oil also slightly increased during the week by 0.84% and the average price declined by 4.38% compared with previous week’s average.
The gap between Brent and WTI spot nearly didn’t move during the week as it ranged between $14 and $15; its average premium reached $14.97; it finished the week at $15.54.
Oil Charts
In the following charts (for the week ending on June 8th) are the daily shifts in WTI spot oil, NYMEX Future (short term delivery) and Brent oil:
The first chart shows the changes of WTI and Brent oil during last week: both oil rates have had a very a moderate upward trend during the week.
In the second chart are the daily percent changes (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 1st, U.S. Petroleum stockpiles rose by 6.8 million bl and reached 1,783.26 million barrels.
The complete oil stockpiles review from June 1st.
For further reading: