The price of Brent crude opened today’s trading session around $111 a barrel as US WTI oil futures play catchup as investors pile back into the US contract, lowering the spread between WTI and Brent to back under $10.
Latest Brent Oil Price
In London, Brent crude oil futures for January 2012 delivery was trading at $111.80 a barrel, 07.35 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange. The European oil contract closed yesterday’s trading session down 1.1 percent, at $110.92 a barrel.
US Oil Price Rockets Through $100
US oil prices saw a 3 percent gain on Wednesday after investors piled back into the contract on news of a pipeline reversal expected to ease a logjam that had been depressing values of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil.
Traders said the move will unlock value in the crude, which has been largely confined to use by Midwest refiners because of its delivery to the landlocked Cushing hub. Benchmark WTI is the crude most often delivered against the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures contract.
The lack of infrastructure to move WTI crude out of Cushing has kept the crude sharply undervalued against Brent oil prices.
As of 07.35 GMT this morning, US WTI oil prices were trading at $102.59 a barrel, and with Brent oil futures at $111.80 a barrel, the spread is now well below the $10 mark.
US Oil Stocks
Meanwhile, US crude oil stocks fell 1.056 million barrels in the week ended 11th November, according to weekly data from the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) which also added fuel to the rise in US oil futures.
Brent to WTI Premium
Brent’s premium to WTI soared to near $28 a barrel a month ago and Brent oil prices had been gaining on tight supplies of competing crudes, due to unrest in Libya and Nigeria, while WTI’s price was depressed by high inventories at Cushing.
More here:
Brent oil trading at $111 as price spread to US crude dips under $10
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.