Weekly Review

“After a two week decline of nearly $10 a barrel, oil prices reversed last week and climbed a little on Thursday and Friday leaving NY oil at $92.19 and London at $112.39. Despite the steep decline in September, oil prices still registered the biggest quarterly increase this year on concerns that Middle Eastern problems could disrupt oil supplies. Higher gasoline prices also contributed to the increase. Friday saw an unusual short squeeze on the closing October gasoline contract in NY which sent prices up 19 cents to close at $3.34 a gallon. The sudden surge was technical in nature as one or more traders scrambled to cover short positions before the contract expired…”

“After falling by nearly $8 a barrel during trading on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, prices recovered a bit on Thursday and Friday to close at $111.42 in London and $92.89 in N.Y. The drop came after nearly 3 months of steady gains and was likely related to talk of an SPR release, assurances from the Saudis that they will keep up production, and an unexpected drop in US crude inventories on Wednesday.”

“Oil prices rose steadily last week on the expectation, then the news, that the US Federal Reserve was going to resume quantitative easing by buying $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities a month for an indeterminate period. The open-endedness of the program came as a surprise and at one point NY oil futures briefly topped $100 a barrel, but slid back to close at $99…”

“Oil prices were little changed at the end of the four-day trading week. NY and London futures finished with small weekly losses after a surge of more than 9 percent in August. Brent closed at $114.25 a barrel and NY at $96.42. Much of the impetus for market moves last week came in anticipation of large government financial bailouts on both sides of the Atlantic…”

“Oil prices were little changed for the week: first climbing on the threat posed by hurricane Isaac; then falling as the hurricane proved to be less of a danger to oil production; and finally recovering on Friday as Fed Chairman Bernanke hinted that the US might have to launch a stimulus program. Such a program would likely weaken the dollar, thereby boosting oil prices. NY oil futures closed at $96 and London at $114, a dollar or so below recent highs.”

“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…”

“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…”

“Oil prices fell 4 percent last Monday on bad EU economic news and then climbed slowly for the rest of the week largely on assurances from EU leaders that they will not let the Eurozone collapse. At week’s end NY oil was at $90.13 and London at $106.65, Bad news about the growth of the US’s GDP stimulated hopes that the Federal Reserve as well as the ECB will soon resort to quantitative easing again…”

“Prices rose steadily through Thursday last week as the threat to supplies from worsening Middle Eastern situations outweighed slackening demand from the weakening global economy. On Friday prices retreated a bit on profit-taking, after a $16 a barrel gain in the last five weeks, and a strengthening US dollar. London oil closed the week at $106.83 and NY at $91.83.”

“Brent crude traded in a narrow range for most of last week between $98 and $100 a barrel as the markets reacted to generally bad economic news from Europe, China, and the US. On Friday prices moved higher to close at $102.40 after the US announced tougher sanctions on companies that have been helping Iran circumvent the sanctions. New York crude followed a similar pattern about $15 lower than Brent…”

“After falling by some $30 a barrel since early May, oil prices rebounded in the last 10 days reaching a high of $88 in New York and $102 in London last week. As has been the case for many months now the interplay between fears of a slowing global economy and possible disruptions of Middle Eastern oil supplies has been the underlying impetus for price moves. Late last week economic concerns came to the fore as a weak US jobs report combined with a gloomy IMF projections of global economic growth to trump an elevated level of saber rattling in the Middle East…”

Download PDF: Peak Oil Review 07/02/12 Dear Peak Oil Review Readers: “As you know, the world Continue Reading

“Dear Peak Oil Review Readers:

As you know, the world runs on finite fossil fuels – but whatever fuels Tom Whipple seems to be infinite. Tom is the chief editor of ASPO-USA’s flagship publications, Peak Oil News and Peak Oil Review, both of which reach subscribers around the world. A task he has tirelessly taken on since 2006. Tom has risen early to work on these publications nearly every day – Peak Oil News on mornings from Monday through Saturdays and work preparing Peak Oil Review on Sundays before its release Monday morning. So it’s wonderful that we can report that Tom is finally taking a few very well-deserved weeks off…”

“London oil prices surged briefly to nearly $102 a barrel last Monday on news of the EU’s Spanish bank bailout. The markets quickly realized, however, that the bailout was only a harbinger of more bailouts to come, and oil prices quickly settled to the vicinity of $97 barrel where they remained for the rest of the week. NY oil followed a similar pattern, trading in the vicinity of $83 for most of the week…”

“Oil prices climbed a bit through Wednesday last week, fell on Thursday and closed largely unchanged for the week as various waves of optimism and pessimism swept over the trading community. This week, the optimism came on hopes that the EU would soon do something about the worsening situations in Spain and Greece and that the US Fed would unleash another round of quantitative easing. The drop on Thursday came after Fed Chairman Bernanke failed to announce or hint that any additional stimulus would come soon. Such stimulus usually lowers the value of the dollar thereby increasing the price of oil…”