Crude Oil Prices – Weekly Recap July 9-13

Crude oil prices started to rise again during last week. Further, the gap between Brent and WTI was also widened. The recent OPEC report and IEA monthly update showed that there was little change in OPEC’s production. The disappointing GDP growth rate of China during Q2 2012 may have raised the speculation that China will stimulate the economy. This news may have contributed to the rally of major commodities prices.       

The oil stockpiles changed direction and rose during the previous week by 2.9 M bl.  

By the end of last week, WTI oil rose by 3.14% and Brent by 4.5%; as a result, the gap between Brent and WTI reached $15.528/b on Friday. 

Here is a short review for the price developments in oil (Brent and WTI) between July 9th and July 13th and a summary of the latest EIA petroleum and oil stockpiles weekly recap:

Oil Market – Weekly Summary

table oil prices - 9-13 July 2012WTI oil price (spot) increased during last week by 3.14%; its weekly average price decreased by 0.43% to $85.78 per barrel, compared with last week’s $86.15 per barrel. The average daily percent change of oil price (WTI) was 0.63%.

NYMEX Oil Future (short term delivery) also increased by 3.14% during the week, and reached $87.1/b by Friday, July 13th.

Europe Brent oil also rose during the week by 4.5% and the average price increased by 1.39% compared with previous week’s average.

The difference between Brent and WTI spot further widen during the week as it ranged between $14 and $15; its average premium reached $14.55; it finished the week at $15.52.

Oil Charts

In the following charts (for the week ending on July 13th) are the daily changes in WTI spot oil, NYMEX Future (short term delivery) and Brent oil:

The first chart shows the developments of WTI and Brent oil during last week: WTI and Brent oil had an upward trend during the.

oil WTI BRENT chart - 9-13 July 2012In 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 chart WTI Brent - percent change 9-13 July 2012Oil Stockpiles –Review:

According to the latest EIA report on the U.S Petroleum and oil market, for the week ending on July 6th, U.S. Petroleum stockpiles rose by 2.9 million bl and reached 1,796.97 million barrels.

The complete oil stockpiles review from July 6th.

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