CN: Crude Futures Moves Higher Before US Oil-Supply Data
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was seen trading higher on Tuesday, rising for the second day before the release of the weekly stockpile report. Brent futures also advanced as the geopolitical tensions eased.
Futures for the North American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for September delivery, which expires tomorrow, traded 0.38% higher to $96.96 a barrel at the time of writing on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). Last week, the contract slipped by 0.3%, dropping to an eight-month low of $95.26 a barrel.
The European benchmark Brent crude for October settlement edged 0.26% higher to $101.87 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange based in London. Brent crude fell to a 14-month low on Monday as the Kurdish troops in Iraq regained control of the nation’s largest dam.
“One thing we have learnt this year is that geopolitical shocks will happen from time to time; however they seem to provide a reason for traders to cover short positions and re-initiate longs, with the mantra ‘climbing the wall of worry’ holding true,” Chris Weston, Managing Director of British Gas wrote in a note.
Crude Supplies
As investors focus on the release of the weekly stockpile report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), analysts’ are expecting to see a fall in crude inventories in the US, the world’s largest oil consumer, with a fall by 1.7 million barrels in the week ended August 15.
US Gasoline inventories are expected to have fallen by 1.7 million barrels during the week, while distillate stockpiles, including diesel and heating oil, are projected to have dropped by 300,000 barrels.
Meanwhile, refinery utilization may have decreased by 0.45 percentage points to an average 91.15% of capacity, the lowest rate since June. A separate supply report from the American Petroleum Institute is expected to be released later in the day.
Iraq
The Iraqi Kurdish troops known as Peshmerga have regained the Mosul dam, the nation’s largest dam from the rebels, after the US dispatched airstrikes against the Sunni militants. The Kurdish forces need to clear the whole Nineveh plain in northern Iraq in the coming weeks, according to Halogard Hikmat, a spokesman.
The conflict in Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has spared the southern region of the country, the base of almost three-quarters of the country’s crude production.
