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Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 9 /Trend Capital, A.Badalova/
After showing signs of growth early this week, oil prices on world markets fell sharply. The reason for the decline was an unprecedented unemployment rate in the U.S. — the highest in an October for 26 years.
The average spot price in 13 varieties (including North American) last week amounted to $77.06 per barrel, with a $0.38 decline from the previous week.
The highest average price was observed on American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil last week. Its average sport price was $79 per barrel compared to $78.4 per barrel the previous week. WTI’s density is 40-degrees API with a 0.4-05-percent sulfur content. This oil is mainly used to produce gasoline and therefore the demand is high, particularly in the U.S. and China.
Bonny Light, produced in Nigeria, was almost by $1 per barrel cheaper than the American light oil. Average prices for the oil last week were $78.06 per barrel, with a $0.76-increase from the previous week. The density of Bonny Light, used to determine the price of other brands of oil exports in the Gulf, is 33.4-degrees API with a 0.16-percent sulfur content.
The average spot price for the Malaysian oil Tapis last week stood at $77.8 per barrel, with a $0.7-decrease from the previous week. This type is used as a reference for the oil-producing zone of the Far East. Tapis’s density is 45.5-degrees API with a 0.1-percent sulfur content.
The price for North Sea Oseberg oil stood at $77.4 per barrel. Last week growth in the North Sea oil amounted to $0.3 per barrel. The density of Oseberg is 37.8-degrees API with a 0.27-percent sulfur content.
The benchmark grade of oil from the Middle East Oman stood at $75.44-78.97 per barrel. Its average sport price was $77.3 per barrel, with a $0.3-increase from the previous week. The density of the oil is 36.3-degrees API, with a 0.8-percent sulfur content.
The average spot price for Minas oil produced in Indonesia and the American WTS crude oil last week was $77 per barrel. The fall in average spot prices for Minas was $0.1. The average price for WTS was the same compared to the previous week. The price for Minas is used in setting prices for other brands of oil exports in the Gulf region. Its density is 35.3-degrees API, with a 0.09-percent sulfur content. The density of WTS is not less than 30 degrees-API with a 2.5-percent sulfur content.
The average spot price for a marker grade of oil produced in Dubai and used as a benchmark in setting prices of other brands of oil exports in the Gulf region Dubai Crude amounted to $76.9 per barrel, with a 0.9-percent increase from the previous week. Dubai Crude is light oil whose density is 31 degrees-API with a 2-percent sulfur content.
The price of Brent (Dated) oil, produced in the North Sea, last week increased by $0.6. Its average spot price was $76.8 per barrel last week. Brent Dated’s density is 38.3-degrees API, with a 0.36-percent sulfur content.
Last week, the average spot price for North Sea Forties was $76.3 per barrel, with a $0.6-up from the previous week. Forties has a low sulfur content and high potential to produce gasoline. Its density is about 40.3-degrees API with a 0.56-percent sulfur content.
Last week, the average spot price for the OPEC oil basket was $76.2 per barrel compared to $76.4 per barrel the previous week. The price is the average index of physical prices for the following 11 grades of oil: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).
The average spot price for the American Mars oil comprised $76.1 per barrel, with a $0.9-increase from the previous week. Mars’s density is 28.9-degrees API with a 2.05-percent sulfur content.
Last week, the lowest average spot price was observed for the high-sulfur oil Urals, which is a mixture of oil produced in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and Tatarstan. Its price was $76.09 per barrel compared to $75.5 per barrel the previous week. The main producers of Urals oil is the Rosneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz, Gazprom Neft, TNK-BP and Tatneft companies. Abroad, this oil is known under the name Siberian Light. In Russia, oil futures for Urals are traded on the FORTS market at the RTS stock exchange.
More news from TREND at http://en.trend.az/capital/pengineering/1576300.html
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This October increase is just pure crude price speculation – just like current rise as hedge against Ida (that fizzeled out).
Just hope I get to see these Mutual Fund traders & folks like Citi eventually gets what is due them. It has taken down lot big oil company trading groups & it will eventually get them going head on against fundamentals like they are doing.
Unfortunately they may take down a lot of refiners before anything is done. Most are still expecting to get in on the upside of these high speculation prices but with high level integration needed in industry these days just to compete with Government owned oil companies – it just means playing on sidelines is pushing more industry profits into the pot for speculators to rip out of the system.
Oil companies need to be shouting at Congress everyday to put in more barriers to non-oil industry speculation on this level. Some slight concessions were made to increase size commodity & limit amount hedge but it is simple barrier for traders to get around.
One biggest improvements recently was Aramco switching from Brent to Sour Crude marker for its index – that is lot harder for speculators to play since fewer companies capable taking in physical barrels & most wouldnt help commodity trader. It has made since for long time since sour crudes dominate the exports making up countries domestic crude imbalance & they actually ARE exposed to freight market swings unlike ther WTI & Brent sweet indexes that are meaningless for export/import crudes where 6 paper barrels are traded for every actual physical barrel sold.
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