NEW YORK: Oil prices fell yesterday, with US crude breaking below $100 a barrel for the first time since early July, as US inventories rose.
Seasonal refinery maintenance has cut US crude oil demand, widening the premium of Brent crude to US oil futures to around $9.70 a barrel. Data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week to October 11, which was delayed until yesterday by the government shutdown, showed a 4 million barrel build in domestic stockpiles for the week.
After 14 straight weeks of decline, stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for the US oil futures contract, rose 366,000 barrels in the week, according to the EIA data, which confirmed reports last week by industry intelligence provider Genscape and the American Petroleum Institute last week.
“That crude build stood out,” said Gene McGillian, analyst with Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
US oil futures traded down as much as $1.73 per barrel at $99.08 in late afternoon. The front-month November US oil futures contract, which expires at the end of trading today, was last trading $1.64 lower at $99.17 per barrel at 1:26 p.m. EDT (1726 GMT).
US oil for December delivery was trading $1.58 lower at $99.53. The December contract fell to as much as a 6-cent discount to January as traders factored in rising supplies. Brent crude futures for December delivery slipped 38 cents to $109.56 a barrel.
This continued the forward curve into contango for the front months, meaning near contracts are lower than those of deferred months. But Amrita Sen, a chief analyst at consultant Energy Aspects, said that could change as inventories at Cushing draw once again after refinery and pipeline maintenance is over.
Reuters
