BLBG:Oil Trades Near Two-Day Low On Iran Deal, Rising Supplies
Oil declined for a second day in New York after Iran agreed to grant access to United Nations nuclear inspectors and U.S. crude stockpiles increased.
Futures slid as much as 0.9 percent. UN inspectors and Iran broke a five-year stalemate with a deal that gives the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the nation’s Parchin military complex, IAEA head Yukiya Amano said yesterday. Oil advanced in the first four months of this year on concern sanctions against Iran will disrupt supplies. U.S. crude inventories rose 1.5 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said. A government report today may show a gain of 1.7 million.
“The agreement by Iran to let the inspectors in is a small step in potentially reducing the supply risk,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “That feeds into the overall situation where demand is steady to somewhat soft against a background of more than adequate supplies.”
Crude for July delivery declined as much as 79 cents to $91.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $91.27 at 12:37 p.m. Singapore time. The contract slid 1.1 percent to $91.85 yesterday, the lowest close since May 18. The June future, which expired, fell 91 cents to $91.66. Front-month prices are 7.7 percent lower this year.
Brent oil for July settlement dropped 48 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $107.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to West Texas Intermediate was at $16.66, from $16.56 yesterday.
Iran Talks
Iran, the second-biggest crude producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is suspected by the West to have worked on the trigger for an atomic bomb at the Parchin complex. The nation holds talks about its nuclear program in Baghdad today with the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany. The sides failed to produce an accord at their last gathering on April 14 in Istanbul, where they described the discussions as “constructive.”
The Western powers won’t give Iran relief from oil and financial sanctions when they meet in the Iraqi capital, said U.S. officials. They may offer confidence-building measures in return for Iranian concessions, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Inventories
Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rose 491,000 barrels to 47.4 million last week, the API data showed. That’s the highest level in records dating back to 2004.
Gasoline inventories dropped 4.5 million barrels. An Energy Department report today may show they declined 650,000 barrels, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts in the Bloomberg survey.
The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey.
Japan’s imports of crude rose 12.9 percent in April from a year earlier as the country stepped up thermal power generation to compensate for a drop in nuclear output. Purchases from overseas were 19.16 million kiloliters, or 4 million barrels a day, the data from the finance ministry showed today.
Utilities increased thermal power output by 45 percent in April, according to data released May 16 by the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. The average utilization rate for atomic plants was at 2 percent in the month, down from 51 percent a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
