DTN Oil Update
Crude Oil Futures Continue Higher on Supply Disruptions
TACOMA, Wash. (DTN) -- Nearby delivery month crude oil futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange and front-month Brent crude on Intercontinental Exchange rose Wednesday afternoon on global supply disruptions, with continued concerns over the bearish effect of additional U.S. import tariffs on fuel demand growth capping gains.
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NYMEX WTI futures for March delivery settled up rose $0.40 to $72.25 barrel (bbl), while April ICE Brent futures rose $0.62 to $75.84 bbl. March RBOB gasoline futures settled little changed at $2.0865 gallon, while ULSD futures for March delivery rose $0.0159 to $2.4565 gallon settlement.
The market now awaits weekly supply for release Wednesday afternoon by the American Petroleum Institute and Thursday from the Energy Information Administration.
Cold weather in the U.S. has shut in some crude oil production, with the North Dakota Pipeline Authority estimating production being down 150,000 bpd as of Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Meanwhile, Russian officials said that Monday's attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium export pipeline could throttle flows by 30% for several weeks to months until damages are repaired, amounting to some 350,000 bpd to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
A return of flows on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline looks more likely after Iraqi officials on Tuesday claimed to have reached a solution to the dispute between Baghdad and Kirkuk, potentially bringing back at least 300,000 bpd of crude oil to the global market. However, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar stated that Turkey is still awaiting confirmation from Iraq on the resumption of oil flows through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened Wednesday afternoon by 0.095 points to 107.050 against a basket of foreign currencies.
Nicholas Bell can be reached at Nicholas.Bell@dtn.com
