NYMEX Spot WTI Contract Lower
OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) -- New York Mercantile Exchange nearby delivery month crude futures settled lower for a 10th consecutive session, the longest down streak in more than 30 years. Intercontinental Exchange January Brent overnight dipped into a bear market amid record production, worries about oversupply and a stronger dollar. The contracts, along with spot-month NYMEX refined products futures, pared losses in late-session buying with frontline ULSD futures the only contract to end in the black.
Higher crude oil output from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States was expected to mitigate lower production from Venezuela, as well as lost supply from Iran resulting from U.S.-imposed sanctions.
Instead, the efforts triggered long liquidation in oil futures as domestic supply has not only increased for seven straight weeks but the gains during six of those weeks bested expectations. Earlier this week, the Energy Information Administration recalculated domestic production, reporting a surge of 400,000 bpd last week to a record high 11.6 million bpd and calling for production to surpass 12 million bpd next year.
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The agency revised lower its world oil consumption projection for 2019 from last month by 500,000 bpd to 101.51 million bpd.
Also weighing on futures are sanctions waivers for eight of Iran's biggest oil buyers, allowing those countries to continue purchasing crude for at least 180 more days. Prior to the waiver announcements earlier this week, the U.S. was expected to push Iranian oil exports to zero.
The recent rout in prices will be among topics at Sunday's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting during which Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC are expected to discuss possible 2019 cuts to production.
NYMEX December West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures settled down 48cts at $60.19 bbl, the lowest level on the spot continuation chart since early March. The contract slid nearly $3.00 or about 5% on the week.
ICE January Brent crude, which traded into bear market territory with the intraday low of $69.13 bbl, settled down 47cts at $70.18 bbl, the lowest settle since early April and down more than 3.5% on the week.
NYMEX December RBOB futures tumbled 2.29cts to $1.6214 gallon, sinking more than 8.5cts on the week while the spot month ULSD futures contract found support from cold weather forecasts to settle up 0.45cts at $2.1728 gallon. The frontline ULSD contract was flat on the week.
Dawn Gallagher can be reached at dawn.gallagher@dtn.com
(CZ)
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