NYMEX WTI, Brent Surge on the Week

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange slipped Friday afternoon, although the U.S. crude benchmark advanced 5.9% and international crude marker 6.7% on the week. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia makes repairs after Saturday's attack on critical oil infrastructure that knocked 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production offline, and oil products eased as floodwaters in southeast Texas began to recede.

NYMEX October West Texas Intermediate contract expired $0.04 lower at $58.09 per barrel (bbl) while $3.24 higher on the week, with the November contract ending at parity with October. ICE November Brent crude dipped $0.12 for a $64.28 bbl settlement while up $4.06 from prior Friday. Both contracts ended the week nearly 7% below the Monday's highs, with Brent reaching a $71.95 bbl high Monday, widening its premium to WTI to a seven-week high this week at more than $6 bbl.

NYMEX October ULSD futures shed 1.86 cents to settle at $1.9863 gallon, while advancing 10.85 cents or 5.8% on the week. The October RBOB contract retreated 2.23 cents to a $1.6784-gallon settlement Friday, but rallied 12.53 cents or 8.1% on the week.

Oil products futures had rallied amid disrupted refinery operations in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, following heavy rainfall and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Imelda, and came under selling pressure early afternoon on easing concern over lengthy outages amid receding floodwaters.

Despite late-session losses, the oil futures complex ended a volatile week of trade with strong gains after a precision attack on critical oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia knocked 5.7 million bpd offline—the largest single supply disruption on record. The attack nearly crippled the Abqaiq oil processing facility, the largest in the world, and the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, and exposed a vulnerability in world's largest swing provider that had been discounted. Last week's attack revealed just how vulnerable Saudi Arabia is to the type of asymmetrical attacks on its oil infrastructure that is critical to global energy security.

The Saudis quick reaction and restoration efforts with 70% of shut-in production expected be restored by the end of this week and fully restored by the end of September reassured markets. The Saudis have also pledged that it will meet all its customer needs, drawing on inventory to offset the lost supply.

Liubov Georges can be reached at liubov.georges@dtn.com

(CZ)

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