“After climbing a dollar or so a barrel by mid-week, oil prices slipped on Friday to close largely unchanged, with NY crude at $96 a barrel and London at $113. The number of factors now impacting oil prices seems to be increasing. Tending to pushing prices higher we have the Iranian sanctions and the threat of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities prior to the US election…”
“Oil prices climbed $2-3 a barrel last week with NY oil closing at a three-month high of $96.01 and London’s Brent closing at $113.71. Increased saber-rattling in the Middle East, lower output from Iran and the North Sea, and the eternal hope that the US and EU governments will renew financial stimulus programs were behind the move. Brent crude traded above $116 a barrel on Thursday, but fell on profit taking and the news that the US was contemplating releases from its strategic petroleum stockpiles…”
“Brent crude, which is more susceptible to the Iranian sanctions and developments in the Middle East was up by some $5 a barrel last week to close just below $113 a barrel. NY oil, however, was only up a couple of dollars resulting in the Brent/West Texas spread widening to over $20 a barrel. The increase came despite a steady stream of bad economic news from much of the world. The shaky economic outlook led the IEA to reduce its oil consumption forecast for 2012 by 250,000 b/d to 89.6 million b/d…”
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“Oil traded in a narrow range last week as the usual factors of faltering economies balanced off against the prospects for disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies. On Friday, however, NY prices jumped almost 5 percent after better-than-expected US employment numbers were released. The week closed with NY crude futures at $91.40 and London’s Brent at $108.94…”
