Oil Futures Down Early Tuesday
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (DTN) -- Oil futures nearest to delivery traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange extended lower in early trade Tuesday as Bloomberg News reported the United States called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to hike oil production by 1 million bpd.
"Trump is asking OPEC for a 1 million barrel a day oil output hike," said Elaine E. Levin, president of Washington, D.C.-based PowerHouse. "The market is taking it somewhat seriously. This seems to be affecting Brent more, with contracts off more than a dollar."
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Levin added that inventory numbers expected at 4:30 PM ET from the American Petroleum Institute are also pressuring prices lower as media reports call for crude draws and inventory builds for both distillates and gasoline.
"The markets are expecting declines in crude stocks by 2.5 million barrels for the week and increases in distillates by 800,000 bbl," Levin said. "Gasoline inventories are expected to rise by another 400,000 barrels."
"Once you get past Memorial Day, is not uncommon for the market to pull back a bit," Levin said.
Near the 9:00 AM ET open, NYMEX July West Texas Intermediate futures traded 22 cents lower at $64.53 bbl, its lowest price in eight weeks, while the August contract fell 23 cents to $64.45 bbl.
The ICE August Brent was 88cts lower to $74.41 bbl, while September Brent crude declined 84cts to $74.26 bbl.
NYMEX July RBOB fell 1.84cts gallon to $2.1040 gallon, while the July ULSD contract fell just over 2 cents to $2.1305 gallon.
Brian Whary can be reached at brian.whary@dtn.com
(BAS)
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