EVENING SNAPSHOT - Americas Markets Summary

04 May 2012 23:22  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Here is Friday’s end of day Americas oil and chemical market summary from ICIS.

CRUDE: Jun WTI: $98.49/bbl, down $4.05; Jun Brent: $113.18/bbl, down $2.90
NYMEX WTI crude futures fell for the third consecutive session tracking a sell-off in the stock market in response to a report showing a slowdown in job creation. WTI bottomed out at $97.51/bbl before staging a slight rebound on pre-weekend buying.

RBOB: Jun: $2.9758, down 7.42 cents/gal
Reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending (RBOB) prices fell further following a disappointing jobs data report, which showed the US added much fewer jobs than expected in April. Gasoline futures have fallen by 12.13 cents/gal since the June contract on the NYMEX became the prompt month.

NATURAL GAS: Jun: $2.279/MMBtu, down 6.1 cents
Henry Hub futures on the NYMEX slid 7%, ending the week less than a penny below where trading first began on Monday. Trading faltered at the start of the session, reversing Thursday’s rebound on supply expectations. The June contract stayed in negative territory for the rest of the day.

ETHANE: lower at 38.00-41.50 cents/gal
Mont Belvieu ethane trades continue to spiral downward slide as a result supply from shale plays heavily outweighing demand, despite ethane crackers restarting and a shut down of a fractionator at Mont Belvieu. The influx of natural gas liquids from shale production has caused all natural gas liquids in Mont Belvieu to drop.

AROMATICS: Toluene lower at $3.98-4.06/gal
Prompt n-grade toluene prices moved down, compared with $4.06-4.10/gal a day earlier, alongside weaker crude values and weak demand. Meanwhile, US mixed xylene (MX) prices moved within a tighter range to $3.99-4.01/gal, compared with $3.92-4.02/gal from the previous session, on bids and offers.

OLEFINS: ethylene down at 63 cents/lb, RGP offer down at 60.00 cents/lb
US ethylene for May traded down compared with a deal at 63.25 cents/lb on Thursday. Refinery-grade propylene (RGP) for May was offered lower at 60 cents/lb with no bids. RGP traded at 60 and 62 cents/lb earlier this week.

For more pricing intelligence please visit www.icispricing.com

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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