WTI oil ends week trading over $89 on higher demand

4 December 2010 4 December 2010

BonTrade

WTI oil futures end the week’s trading session over $89 a barrel as cold weather in Europe sees oil demand on the rise, while stock markets and currencies fail to stop crude oil’s march back towards $100 a barrel.

WTI Oil Futures – Closing Price

US Light oil futures for January 2011 delivery closed the week at $89.44 a barrel on the NYMEX, which is a big $5.50 higher than the previous week’s closing price of $83.94 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the ICE US Dollar Index, which tracks US dollar strength against six other major world currencies ended Friday little changed at 80.075.

JP Morgan $120 Oil Forecast for 2012

WTI oil prices are now at two and a half year highs as JP Morgan forecast that crude oil prices will hit $120 per barrel within two years. Oil will breach through $100 a barrel in the first half of 2011 and $120 before the end of 2012, JP Morgan said on Friday, predicting OPEC will be very slow to react to a oil price spike.

“We think OPEC is unlikely to raise output ahead of its June 2011 meeting unless oil prices push above $100 a barrel, leaving crude oil inventories to draw over the first quarter, pushing Brent crude oil into backwardation, a structure that is likely to remain in place for much of 2011 and 2012.” commented analysts at JP Morgan yesterday.

US and European Oil Supplies Tighter

“Oil supplies are tightening a bit, we’ve got oil demand growth taking place globally, and it’s proving a bit higher than previously expected.” said Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch and Associates.

“We’ve spent two years where the market has ignored current fundamentals and focused on future fundamentals. But what we’ve seen is that the inventory levels, in the US and globally, are starting to destock. We still have plenty of oil supplies, but it is certainly moving towards a more normal direction.” said Dominick Chirichella, an oil analyst at the Energy Management Institute.