Oil price update

MELBOURNE: Oil prices fell on Thursday after data showed U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose last week, reigniting worries about pandemic restrictions cutting into fuel demand.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $53.04 a barrel at 0147 GMT, following two days of gains on hopes of massive COVID-19 relief spending under new U.S. President Joe Biden.Brent crude futures similarly dropped 26 cents, or 0.5%, to $55.82 a barrel.U.S. crude oil inventories rose 2.6 million barrels in the week to Jan. 15, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, compared with analysts' forecasts in a Reuters poll for a fall of 1.2 million barrels."Oil prices look a tad vulnerable to potential profit-taking after U.S. crude stockpiles bearishly rose 2.56 million against consensus draw," Axi chief market strategist Stephen Innes said in a note to clients.However gasoline stocks and distillate inventories, which include diesel, distillate … [Read more...] about Oil price slips on surprise rise in U.S. crude stocks

MELBOURNE: Oil prices fell on Thursday after data showed U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose last week, reigniting worries about pandemic restrictions cutting into fuel demand.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $53.04 a barrel at 0147 GMT, following two days of gains on hopes of massive COVID-19 relief spending under new U.S. President Joe Biden.Brent crude futures similarly dropped 26 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $55.82 a barrel.U.S. crude oil inventories rose 2.6 million barrels in the week to Jan. 15, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, compared with analysts' forecasts in a Reuters poll for a fall of 1.2 million barrels."Oil prices look a tad vulnerable to potential profit-taking after U.S. crude stockpiles bearishly rose 2.56 million against consensus draw," Axi chief market strategist Stephen Innes said in a note to clients.However gasoline stocks and distillate inventories, which include … [Read more...] about Oil slips on surprise rise in U.S. crude stocks

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Thursday after oil marketing companies decided to continue their pause in price revision to provide relief to consumers after prices of auto fuels breached record high levels last week.Accordingly, petrol continues to be sold at Rs 85.20 a litre in Delhi while diesel prices also remained same at Rs 75.38 a litre.Across the country as well the pump price of petrol and diesel remained unchanged on Thursday.Petrol and diesel prices had risen sharply by 25 paise per litre each on Monday and Tuesday before the OMCs decided to give relief to consumers from frequent price rise.The pump price of petrol and diesel has increased by Rs 1.49 and Rs 1.51 per litre respectively in January so far with OMCs deciding to break an earlier longer period of pause increasing the retail prices for the first time this year on January 6. The price had been raised on five different days since then.The last two days of increase in the pump prices in … [Read more...] about OMCs keep petrol, diesel price rise under check on Thursday

MOSCOW, - Exports of Russian Urals oil via the Druzhba pipeline have dropped this month as sellers opt for the sea route instead, following disagreements over pricing with European refiners, four sources told Reuters on Wednesday.The Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline, named after the Russian word for friendship, links Russian oilfields to European refineries and has the capacity to pump 1 million barrels per day (bpd).Since the start of January some 70 per cent of that capacity is being used, two sources familiar with daily Russian oil export data told Reuters on condition of anonymity.Urals exports via Druzhba have fallen by 10 per cent and 20 per cent compared to December and January 2020 respectively, Reuters estimates based on data provided by the sources show.At the same time, Urals oil exports from Russia's Baltic ports rose by 35 per cent.Lower seaborne transportation costs for Russian flagship Urals crude in 2020 made exports via the pipeline less profitable compared to shipping … [Read more...] about Price dispute shrinks Russia oil pipeline exports

TOKYO: Japan's petroleum industry called on utilities to keep using oil-fired power plants as backups after the nation's power market faced a supply crunch amid cold weather, the head of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said on Thursday.Japan's wholesale electricity prices have risen sharply since late last month amid the worst power crunch since the Fukushima disaster nearly a decade ago, sending power companies scrambling for extra supplies, especially liquefied natural gas (LNG), to fuel power stations."The electricity industry has requested our industry to provide excess oil and we have done as much as possible," Tsutomu Sugimori, president of the PAJ, told a news conference."But we could not take all the requests, especially from the utilities which have no contracts with us, as it was difficult to quickly prepare tanks, arrange ships, find staff and so on," said Sugimori, who is also chairman of Eneos Holdings Inc .The petroleum industry has been asking utilities to keep … [Read more...] about Japan’s petroleum industry calls on utilities to keep using oil-fired power plants