BLBG:Oil Futures Fluctuate as Chinese Crude Imports Climb
West Texas Intermediate crude switched between gains and losses as China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, increased imports to a record in July.
Futures fluctuated after government data showed Chinese net crude purchases increase by 13 percent last month to 25.9 million metric tons of oil, or 6.13 million barrels a day. WTI fell yesterday after a report from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. gasoline supplies rose, while crude inventories fell.
“On the demand and on the macro side, the fundamentals for oil are quite positive,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB AB, who predicts Brent crude will average $105 a barrel in the fourth quarter. “We had some good news from China on imports.”
WTI for September delivery was at $104.21 a barrel, down 16 cents in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:28 a.m. London time. The volume of all futures traded was 10 percent below the 100-day average. The contract decreased 93 cents to $104.37 yesterday, the lowest since July 30.
Brent for September settlement slipped 42 cents to $107.02 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark’s premium to WTI strengthened to as much as $3.31, the widest gap on an intraday basis since July 31.
China Data
Total exports of goods rose 5.1 percent last month, figures from the General Administration of Customs in Beijing show. They were projected to gain by 2 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey. Imports climbed 10.9 percent, compared with a forecast 1 percent increase in the survey.
U.S. gasoline inventories climbed by 135,000 barrels last week, said the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm. They were projected to fall by 500,000 barrels, according to the median estimate of 11 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Distillate supplies, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, increased by 469,000 barrels, compared with a forecast of no change in the survey.
Refineries operated at an average 90.9 percent of capacity, down 0.4 percentage point from the prior week, the EIA said yesterday. U.S. motor-fuel demand typically rises from the last weekend in May through Labor Day in early September, the nation’s peak vacation season.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.3 million barrels to 363.3 million barrels, according to EIA data. They were projected to decline by 1.5 million barrels, the survey shows.
Cushing Inventories
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York futures and the largest oil storage hub in the U.S., fell by 2.2 million barrels last week to 39.9 million barrels, the EIA said. It’s the lowest level since March 2012 and the fifth week of declines.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency will separately release monthly reports tomorrow with estimates of global supply and demand.
Most of the loading programs for North Sea crude oils next month have now been issued by operators.
Daily exports of Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk crudes, which make up the Dated Brent benchmark, will jump to a four-month high in September, loading programs obtained by Bloomberg News yesterday showed. Subsequently, a late-August Forties cargo has been delayed to early September, two people with knowledge of the matter said today, asking not to be identified.
Yemen’s Marib crude began flowing today through a pipeline to an export terminal on the Red Sea, after repairs were made to the line following sabotage by local tribesmen on Aug. 4, the official Saba news agency reported in a text message from its mobile news service.
To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net
