Archived Summaries

Wednesday 08 August 2012
Market Close
  Crude oil prices fell back slightly on Wednesday morning following Tuesday's strong gain but both NYMEX and Brent crude benchmarks gradually regained an upward trajectory on news of some increased tightness in supply due to pipeline disruption in Iraq and the U.S. and upcoming maintenance in the North Sea.  Despite U.S. inventory data which revealed a draw in crude stocks of 3.7 million barrels last week, crude settled only marginally higher at the close.  An opening supply shortfall on the UK gas system yesterday saw the within day price gain a penny in early trading.  While forecast demand increased over the course of the day, from 171 MCM at market opening to 177 MCM at the close, the supply side stepped up delivery rates to balance the system by close of business.  An increase of 6 MCM on Langeled was matched by increased LNG send-out from the Isle of Grain to boost overall deliveries.  An early gain of a penny on the spot price was eroded and within day closed 0.45p higher while day ahead actually finished down 0.20p on Tuesday's closing level.  On the futures market, prices continued to gain following Tuesday's upward shift and the front month was up by 0.53p with seasonal contracts gaining between 0.30 and 0.50p.