BLBG: Crude Oil Trades Near a 26-Month High as U.S. Stockpiles May Have Fallen
Oil traded within 1 percent of a 26- month high in New York on speculation that reviving U.S. demand will erode surplus inventories in the world’s biggest crude consumer.
Crude stockpiles probably shrank for a fourth week, extending the longest decline in a year, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Department report tomorrow. U.S. gasoline demand at the pump jumped 4.6 percent last week, data from MasterCard Inc. showed.
“I think the U.S. economy will grow at a healthy pace next year,” said Thorbjoern Bak Jensen, an analyst at Global Risk Mangement in Middelfart, Denmark. “MasterCard data shows gasoline use up from last year, while continued bad weather supports demand for heating-oil related products.”
Crude for February delivery was at $91.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 39 cents, at 9:41 a.m. London time. The contract traded at $91.88 on Dec. 27, the highest since Oct. 7, 2008. Brent crude for February settlement traded at $94.02 a barrel, down 36 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Motorists bought an average 9.613 million barrels a day of gasoline in the week ended Dec. 24, up from 9.19 million barrels a day in the previous week, MasterCard Inc. said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.
Futures dropped as much as 0.3 percent earlier today after data yesterday showed a decline in U.S. consumer confidence and home values fell more than economists projected.
Consumers Anxious
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of U.S. property values fell 0.8 percent in October from a year earlier, the group said yesterday. The New York-based Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to 52.5, lower than the most pessimistic forecast of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
“Consumers are clearly still anxious about the future,” said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover Inc., an energy adviser in New Canaan, Connecticut. “Expectations had been for an improvement to 56, so the figure was not helpful.”
Oil, which rallied 78 percent in 2009, has advanced 15 percent this year as a decline in supplies bolstered speculation fuel demand is recovering.
The Energy Department will release its weekly report at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Washington, a day later than usual because of Christmas. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute, which collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis, will issue its report today, also a day later than usual.
U.S. crude inventories probably dropped 2.85 million barrels from 340.7 million in the week ended Dec. 24, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts polled by Bloomberg News. Supplies have decreased this month by 19 million barrels, or 5.3 percent, the most since December 2006.
Gasoline stockpiles increased 1.63 million barrels from 217.2 million, the survey showed. Distillate fuel inventories, including heating oil and diesel, probably fell 875,000 barrels from 160.7 million.
To contact the reporter on this story: {Yee Kai Pin} in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net; Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net
Oil traded within 1 percent of a 26- month high in New York on speculation that reviving U.S. demand will erode surplus inventories in the world’s biggest crude consumer.
Crude stockpiles probably shrank for a fourth week, extending the longest decline in a year, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Department report tomorrow. U.S. gasoline demand at the pump jumped 4.6 percent last week, data from MasterCard Inc. showed.
“I think the U.S. economy will grow at a healthy pace next year,” said Thorbjoern Bak Jensen, an analyst at Global Risk Mangement in Middelfart, Denmark. “MasterCard data shows gasoline use up from last year, while continued bad weather supports demand for heating-oil related products.”
Crude for February delivery was at $91.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 39 cents, at 9:41 a.m. London time. The contract traded at $91.88 on Dec. 27, the highest since Oct. 7, 2008. Brent crude for February settlement traded at $94.02 a barrel, down 36 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Motorists bought an average 9.613 million barrels a day of gasoline in the week ended Dec. 24, up from 9.19 million barrels a day in the previous week, MasterCard Inc. said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.
Futures dropped as much as 0.3 percent earlier today after data yesterday showed a decline in U.S. consumer confidence and home values fell more than economists projected.
Consumers Anxious
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of U.S. property values fell 0.8 percent in October from a year earlier, the group said yesterday. The New York-based Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to 52.5, lower than the most pessimistic forecast of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
“Consumers are clearly still anxious about the future,” said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover Inc., an energy adviser in New Canaan, Connecticut. “Expectations had been for an improvement to 56, so the figure was not helpful.”
Oil, which rallied 78 percent in 2009, has advanced 15 percent this year as a decline in supplies bolstered speculation fuel demand is recovering.
The Energy Department will release its weekly report at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Washington, a day later than usual because of Christmas. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute, which collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis, will issue its report today, also a day later than usual.
U.S. crude inventories probably dropped 2.85 million barrels from 340.7 million in the week ended Dec. 24, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts polled by Bloomberg News. Supplies have decreased this month by 19 million barrels, or 5.3 percent, the most since December 2006.
Gasoline stockpiles increased 1.63 million barrels from 217.2 million, the survey showed. Distillate fuel inventories, including heating oil and diesel, probably fell 875,000 barrels from 160.7 million.
To contact the reporter on this story: {Yee Kai Pin} in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net; Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net
