Oil Prices – Weekly Recap February 25- March 1

Crude oil price fell again during the previous week. The U.S stockpiles slightly declined according to the recent EIA report. The difference between Brent and WTI has shrunk again to a range between $19 and $21 during the previous week. WTI oil declined by 2.63% during the week; Brent oil fell by 3.24%. As a result, the gap between Brent and WTI reached $19.72/b on Friday.

Here is a short analysis for the rate shifts in oil prices (Brent and WTI) between February 25th and March 1st and a summary of the latest EIA review on petroleum and oil stockpiles:

Oil Market – Weekly Summary

table oil prices - February 25 - March 1 2013NYMEX Oil Future (WTI) fell during last week by 2.63%; its weekly average rate decreased by 2.48%; it reached average $92.25 per barrel, compared with last week’s $94.59 per barrel. The average daily percent change of oil price (WTI) was -0.53%.

NYMEX Oil Future (short term delivery) reached $90.68/b by Friday, March 1st.

Europe Brent oil also fell during the week by 3.24%, and the average price decreased by 3.2% compared with last week’s average.

The gap between Brent and WTI was at the range between $19 and $21 during the week; its average premium reached $19.91; it finished the week at $19.72.

Oil Charts

In the following charts (for the week ending on February 22nd) are the daily shifts in NYMEX WTI future (short term delivery) and Brent oil:

The first chart shows the changes of WTI and Brent oil during last week: WTI oil and Brent oil declined during the week.

oil WTI BRENT chart - February 25 - March 1 2013In the second chart are the daily percent changes (i.e. changes around the trend) of oil prices (WTI and Brent):

 

oil chart WTI Brent - percent change February 25 - March 1 2013Oil Stockpiles –Review:

For the week ending on February 22nd, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles declined again by 5.9 million barrels and reached 1,784.7 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are still higher than the quota from year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 29.3 million barrels above oil stockpiles for the same week in 2012.

 

Conversely, U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil rose again by 1.1 million barrels and reached 1,073.5 million barrels. The U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline declined by 0.81% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 228.5 million barrels.

During recent years the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles reached -0.19. This mid-weak correlation implies, assuming all things being equal, the rates of oil may rally next week.

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