NOON SNAPSHOT - Americas Markets Summary

08 January 2009 18:00  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Here is Thursday’s mid-day Americas oil and chemical market summary from ICIS pricing.

CRUDE: February WTI: $41.39/bbl, down $1.24; February Brent: $44.63/bbl, down $1.23
Crude prices worked lower, extending the previous session’s losses in response to bearish natural gas inventories and a gloomy retails sales report. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) bottomed out at $40.74/bbl before rebounding.

NATURAL GAS: $5.629/MMBtu, down 24.3 cents
Natural gas prices plunged following a much lower-than-expected draw in domestic inventories. Initial expectations were a 79bn cubic foot decline, but the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a 47bn cubic foot decline.

RBOB: $1.0721/gal, down 0.43 cents
Reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) prices inched down in early trading.

BENZENE: US Gulf coast benzene was quiet with bids in the low-to-mid 80s cents/gal and offers notionally pegged around 91 cents/gal.

ETHYLENE: US ethylene spot prices were notionally steady at 24.25-24.50 cents/lb based on the last deals heard in the market. Ethylene spot prices have jumped by about 4 cents/lb this week, lifted by higher upstream energy values.

PROPYLENE: No refinery-grade propylene (RGP) spot activity was heard on Thursday. RGP for January last traded at 14.50 and 15.00 cents/lb on Monday.

For more pricing intelligence please visit www.icispricing.com

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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