The market is being pushed and pulled in different directions and it is hard to determine how to prioritize the factors affecting the markets. Crude inventory continued its inexorable build while both products saw significant draws because we are in early spring there will be greater demand for gasoline and diesel. Bahraini security forces reinforced by Gulf States military have had violent clashes with demonstrators and because this is next door to Saudi Arabia the risk premium must be added to prices. Ghaddafi seems poised to retake all of the rebel-held areas in Libya and this may mean that oil will once again be flowing even at a great human cost. Japan is pulling prices down because no one understands the full extent of the nuclear meltdown and its effects on the Japanese economy and whether future Japanese demand for oil will increase. A lot of push for prices to go up and a major pull to bring prices down consequently products moved big while crudes move moderately.
Today, WTI +58¢, $97.98; Brent +$2.14, $110.69; gasoline +3.82¢, $2.8442; distillate +4.02¢, $2.9966.
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