Crude Oil Prices – Weekly Recap 31 Oct- 4 Nov

The crude oil market had a less volatile week during the first week of November as oppose to the last week of October, but the news from Europe regarding the Greek debt crisis brought some volatility to the commodities markets including crude oil market; the   ECB rate reduction also helped shack the financial markets, and the news of the U.S and Canada labor reports, which were published on Friday, may have also helped keep crude oil prices high.

By the end of the week, Brent oil price inclined by 2.77% and WTI spot oil added 1.15%; to its value; as a result, the spread between Brent oil and WTI oil rose to $18.29/b on Friday. 

Here is a review of the price changes during last week (October 31st to November 4th) of crude oil (Brent oil and WTI), and a summary of the recent EIA crude oil and petroleum stockpiles report:

Crude Oil Prices – Highlights

 

table crude spot oil prices - 31 October - 4 November 2011

WTI spot oil price inclined during last week by 1.15%; its weekly average price also sharply rose by 1.01% as it reached $93.24 per barrel, compared with last week’s $92.32 per barrel. The average daily percent change of crude oil price (WTI) was 0.20%.

NYMEX Futures Price (December delivery) also added 1.15% to its value during the week, and reached $94.26/b on Friday, November 4th  

Europe Brent oil price also rose by 2.77% during the week, but the average price fell by 1.33% compared with previous week’s average.

The premium of Brent over WTI spot prices sharply declined during the week; its average premium was $17.06; it finished the week at $18.29.

Crude Oil Charts

The following chart shows last week’s trend of (week ending on November 4th) WTI spot oil price, NYMEX Futures Prices (December delivery) and Europe Brent spot oil price:

In the chart, crude oil prices had a moderate upward trend throughout the week.

 

 

Crude spot oil prices WTI BRENT charts - 31 October - 4 November 2011

The second chart presents the daily percent changes (i.e. changes around the trend) of crude oil price (WTI spot oil, WTI future, Brent spot oil):

 

Crude spot oil price chart WTI Brent oil - percent change 31 October - 4 November 2011

Crude oil prices started the week with sharp falls and as the week progressed the oil prices daily percent changes shifted from negative to positive changes. The highest gains were recorded on Thursday.

Crude Oil Stockpiles –Highlights:

According to the recent EIA report of the US oil market, for the week ending on October 28th, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles rose by 1.8 million barrels to 1,760.7 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles were 93,178 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the same week in 2010.

For the complete crude oil stockpiles review see here.

For further reading:

Previous issues of weekly report: