Crude Oil Prices – Weekly Recap 16-20 January

Crude oil prices continued their downward trend for a second straight week after they had started the month with sharp gains. The speculation around the stability of Euro Area will continue to dominate the news and crowd out (for the time being) the concerns revolving the rising tensions between Iran and the West. During last week, WTI oil price decreased by 0.24% and Brent oil price by 1.12%; as a result, the difference between Brent oil and WTI oil slipped to $11.17/b on Friday. 

Here is a short recap for the recent changed in crude oil price (Brent oil and WTI), and a summary of the recent EIA crude oil and petroleum stockpiles report for the week of January 16th to January 20th:

Crude Oil Price – Highlights

table crude oil prices - 16-20 January 2012WTI (spot) slightly fell during last week by 0.24%; its weekly average price also decreased by 0.4% to $100.04 per barrel, compared with last week’s $100.44 per barrel. The average daily percent change of crude oil price (WTI) was -0.12%.

NYMEX Futures Price (February delivery) also declined by 0.37% during the week, and reached $98.33/b on Friday, January 20th  

Europe Brent oil also slipped during the week by 1.12% and the average price fell by 1.06% compared with previous week’s average.

The difference of Brent over WTI prices decreased during the week; its average premium was $10.52; it finished the week at $11.17. The recent rising tensions in the Middle East (mainly in Iran) may keep the premium of Brent over WTI high.

Oil Charts

The following charts show the development of (for the week ending on January 20th) WTI spot oil price, NYMEX Futures Prices (Short term delivery) and Europe Brent spot oil price:

The first chart presents the changes of WTI and Brent prices during the week: WTI and Brent prices have had a downward trend throughout most of the week, mainly by the end of the week.

Crude oil price WTI BRENT oil chart -16-20 January 2012The second chart presents the daily percent changes (i.e. changes around the trend) of crude oil prices (WTI spot, WTI future, Brent spot):

 

Crude oil price chart WTI Brent oil - percent change 16-20 January 2012Crude oil price started off the week rising, but as the week progressed it changed direction and declined.

Crude Oil Stockpiles –Highlights:

According to the last EIA report on the U.S Petroleum market, for the week ending on January 13th, U.S. oil stockpiles fell last week by 2.0 million barrels and reached 1,747.6 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are 45.873 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the same week last year.

For the complete crude oil stockpiles review see here.

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