A week ago WTI settled under $100 but the fighting in Libya has gotten hotter and Ghaddafi seems to be making a comeback with overwhelming artillery and air power. Europeans seem unsure if they should implement a no-fly zone and the Obama administration seems uninterested and wishing only to do nothing. Only the fast rising price of gasoline seems to be pushing the White House into making any statement at all. The latest statement was to suggest to open up the strategic reserve but you don't use a short supply strategic reserve to flood an already oversupplied market with crude bought when WTI was under $30. However, the Obama administration wants to get prices to fall without approving more drilling and without interfering in the Libyan civil war.
Today's slight price decrease seems to have been caused by OPEC's continuing assurance that the Libyan short fall can be made up. I mentioned OPEC because Kuwait, the UAE and Nigeria have now joined Saudi Arabia in trying to calm the markets down. However, Saudi Arabia faces demonstrations in a couple of days and Nigeria is about to have an election and that always causes unrest throughout the country.
Today: WTI -34¢, $105.11; Brent -87¢, $113.14; gasoline -5.54¢, $2.9489; distillate -5.4¢, $3.0115.
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