Crude falls over $1/bbl as financial storm worsens

18 September 2008 09:15  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Crude futures fell by more than $1/bbl on Thursday, cancelling out some of the massive gains made the previous day as turmoil in the financial markets deepened following falls in Asian stock markets.

 

At 07:34 GMT, October NYMEX light sweet crude futures were trading at $95.96/bbl, down $1.20/bbl on Wednesday’s settlement level, having earlier hit a low of $95.73/bbl, down $1.43/bbl.

 

At the same time, November Brent on London’s ICE Futures was trading at $93.44/bbl, down $1.40/bbl on Wednesday’s settlement price, having earlier fallen to a low of $93.29/bbl down $1.55/bbl.

 

Prices rose by around $6/bbl on Wednesday - the largest one-day increase in three months - following a larger than expected fall in US crude stocks and a flight to crude and other commodities as a hedge against sharp falls in the equities markets.

 

Meanwhile, the continued shutdown of production facilities and refineries following the passage of Hurricane Ike had added further supply worries.

 

Weekly supply data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) published on Wednesday revealed a decline in crude stocks of some 6.3m bbl, much larger than analysts’ predictions of 3.8m bbl. However, the declines in gasoline and distillate stocks of 3.3m bbl and 0.9m bbl respectively were less than forecast.

By: James Dennis
+65 6780 4359

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