Crude Oil Prices – Weekly Recap 30 April – 4 May 2012

Crude oil prices continued their slow paced movement during most of the week until Friday, when the U.S employment report was released and didn’t reach expectations. This news was plausibly the main event that dragged oil prices by almost 4% for WTI and nearly 2.5% for Brent oil.

The oil stockpiles slightly declined during the previous week by 1.9M bl.  

By the end , WTI oil fell by 6.08% and Brent oil decreased by 5.44%; as a result, the difference between Brent and WTI reached $14.67/b on Friday. 

Here is a short recap for the developments in crude oil prices (Brent oil and WTI) between April 30th and May 4th and a summary of the recent EIA petroleum and oil stockpiles report:

Oil Prices – Weekly Summary

table crude oil prices - 30 April 4 May 2012WTI oil (spot) plummeted during last week by 6.08%; its weekly average price also decreased by 0.33% to $103.46 per barrel, compared with last week’s $103.8 per barrel. The average daily percent change of crude oil price (WTI) was -1.24%.

NYMEX Futures (June delivery) also decreased by 6.08% during the week, and reached $98.49/b by Friday, May 4th.

Europe Brent oil also traded sharply down during the week by 5.44%, and the average price also decreased by 1.6% compared with previous week’s average.

The difference between Brent and WTI spot edged down during the week as it ranged between $13 and $15; its average premium was $13.83; it finished the week at $14.67.

Crude Oil Charts

In the following charts (in regards to the week ending on May 4th) 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 have had a sharp downward trend.

Crude oil price WTI BRENT oil chart - 30 April 4 May 2012The second chart presents the movement on a daily basis in terms of percent changes (i.e. changes around the trend) of oil prices (WTI spot oil, WTI future, Brent spot oil):

 

Crude oil price chart WTI Brent oil - percent change 30 April 4 May 2012Crude Oil Stockpiles –Recap:

According to the latest EIA report on the U.S Petroleum and oil market, for the week ending on April 27th, U.S. Petroleum stockpiles declined by 1.9 million bl and reached 1,765.5 million barrels.

The complete crude oil stockpiles review from May 2nd.

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