Brent oil price slides back to $107 a barrel, spread to US crude narrows

Brent oil futures end Friday’s trading session back at $107 a barrel and the spread between European and US oil prices narrowed this week to back around the $10 mark after US WTI oil clawed back ground to close the gap further.

Brent Oil Futures – Closing Price

ICE Brent crude oil futures for January 2012 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $107.81 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Brent oil futures closed last week’s session (Friday 12th November) at $114.16 a barrel.

Brent to US Oil Spread

Brent’s premium to US oil futures widened around $1.40 to over $10 a barrel as the US contract held flat, with traders taking profits on the spread after it narrowed $3 a barrel earlier in the week on news a pipeline reversal could draw down US Midwest stockpiles.

“Crude prices rallied early as the euro jumped against the dollar, but that has fizzled out to a certain extent. Volume is light, and after what has come to be a crazy week some people are just deciding to close out some positions.” said Mark Anderle, trader at TAC Energy in Dallas, Texas.

Although continuing worries about the eurozone debt crisis pushed oil prices lower later in the week, NYMEX December WTI settled down $1.63 from the start of the week at $97.67 in New York trade on Friday.

Earlier in the week, a decision to reverse a pipeline between the US Midwest and the Gulf Coast is expected to alleviate some of the glut of crude oil stocks in and around Cushing, the delivery point for WTI crude oil, and provided an uplift to US oil prices.

The rise in the WTI contract following the decision has meant that its discount to other oil benchmarks, namely the North Sea Brent crude contract, narrowed significantly. The spread between the two contracts, which widened to as much as $28 a barrel earlier this year, was at $10.47 late Friday.

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Brent oil price slides back to $107 a barrel, spread to US crude narrows