- Title: USA: OIL FUTURES MOVE BACK FROM RECORD HIGH.
- Date: 5th August 2004
- Summary: (W6) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA (AUGUST 4, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TV/GV: OIL TRADING FLOOR ON THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE; VARIOUS OF OIL TRADERS (3 SHOTS0 0.23 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDEPENDENT ENERGY TRADER ERIC BOLLING, SAYING: "There is a 2,4 million barrel billed in gasoline for the week, which is a nice size bill. Gasoline has really been the market that's pulled the crude oil market up over the last six to eight weeks. So, this is showing if these refiners are finally catching up and producing enough gasoline to meet this demand, that may ease the gasoline price, and thereby ease the crude oil price with it." 0.44 3. TV/PAN/GV: VARIOUS OF TRADING FLOOR (2 SHOTS) 1.07 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOLLING, SAYING: "Don't forget there are still other situations going on. This YUKOS situation in Russia, as well as situations in Iraq. The northern pipeline not ever getting to speed yet, so there are still up sIde potentials for the oil market. Right now, traders are taking a bit of a break, taking some profit, and pushing the market down a bit." 1.25 5. GV: OIL TRADERS 1.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 20th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAN3NI3Y5S0GTDG60Q6VYIH2D7
- Story Text: U.S. oil futures eased back from record highs on
Wednesday after rising gasoline inventories eased maket
fears.
NYMEX crude oil futures fell on Wednesday morning
(August 4) in the wake of heavy losses on gasoline after
government data showed refined products inventories
increased last week, analysts said.
September crude was down 30 cents at 43.85 U.S.
dollars a barrel at 10:50 a.m. EDT (1450 GMT) after hitting
a record 44.34 U.S. dollars in ACCESS trade overnight to
post the loftiest level in the future contract's 21-year
history.
September gasoline fell 3.91 cents to 1.2475 U.S.
dollars a gallon, breaking through technical support at
1.25 U.S. dollars.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
weekly oil stocks report showed crude oil stocks fell 1.9
million barrels to 298.6 million barrels in the week ended
July 30, leaving an inventory surplus of 13.7 million
barrels over last year.
Gasoline stocks showed a surprise build of 2.4 million
barrels to 210.1 million barrels as refinery utilization
remained high at 96.3 percent even after falling 0.7
percentage point last week. Gasoline stocks are 8.3 million
barrels higher than this time last year.
"Gasoline has really been the market that's pulled the
crude oil market up over the last six to eight weeks. So,
this is showing if these refiners are finally catching up
and producing enough gasoline to meet this demand, that may
ease the gasoline price, and thereby ease the crude oil
price with it," said Eric Bolling, and independent energy
trader at the NYMEX.
Distillate inventories rose 2.1 million barrels to
121.1 million barrels, the EIA said.
In London, September IPE Brent crude was 1 cent
firmer at 40.65 U.S. dollars a barrel.
Bolling said Wednesday's drop does not mean oil prices
have hit their near-term peak.
"Don't forget there are still other situations going
on. This YUKOS situation in Russia, as well as situations
in Iraq. The northern pipeline not ever getting to speed
yet, so there are still up side potentials for the oil market. Right
no
w, traders are taking a bit of a break,
taking some profit, and pushing the market down a bit,"
said Bolling.
Oil prices have surged by more than a third since the
end of 2003 on worries that accelerating global demand has
left supplies tightly stretched. Concerns about lack of
spare OPEC capacity have compounded worries about possible
supply disruptions from Russia, where the nation's biggest
oil company YUKOS is battling bankruptcy, as well as
continued anxiety about sabotage in Iraq.
Technical analysts said a drop in oil prices was
likely to provoke fresh speculative buying and give
momentum for a move to new highs.
"This remains a buy-on-dips market as momentum
provokes an ongoing onslaught of funds buying. We expect
crude to target 45 U.S. dollars ," analysts at Refco said
in a report.
NYMEX September heating oil was down 1.05 cents at
1.171 a gallon U.S. dollars.
wash/awa
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
