WSJ:Oil Futures Narrow as Market Turns to U.S. Data
A lack of significant cues and a mixed U.S. oil inventory saw narrow movement only in oil futures in Asian hours on Thursday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $97.61 a barrel at 0620 GMT--up $0.23 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.03 to $106.28 a barrel.
U.S. crude-oil supplies rose by 400,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 31, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Analysts expected supplies to have risen by 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal.
The increase was more than offset by a 5.8 million-barrel drop in refined-product stocks, BNP Paribas said. "Essentially this was a mixed bag that elicited a mixed and limited price response. Upcoming refinery maintenance in the face of crude production increases is likely to become the focus of attention in coming weeks."
Brent crude was slightly above $106 with the Brent-WTI spread trading at about $8.75 a barrel. The spread has narrowed to its lowest since October last year.
The recent reduction in Libyan oil production may have helped Brent crude hold its ground, Citi Futures said in a note. Brent crude is also supported by strong arbitrage volumes to Asia so far this year and production outages in the North Sea.
"Developments in Libya continue to bear watching with a Feb. 20 election for a new constitutional commission and ongoing talks with eastern Libyan militias holding key oil export terminals," Citi Futures energy markets strategist Tim Evans said.
Financial markets focusing on Friday's official U.S. employment report for January for signs of economic recovery.
Meanwhile in Kuwait oil workers at state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. have threatened to strike over wages but its oil minister played down concerns about any disruptions to production, according to reports.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for March--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 80 points to $2.6493 a gallon while March heating oil traded at $2.9911--57 points lower.
ICE gasoil for February changed hands at $903.00 a metric ton--up $4.00 from Wednesday's settlement.
