Spot Cargo Markets - Fresh Highs

摘要

Oil prices climbed to their highest levels since December 2014 last week, with international benchmark Brent reaching $70.37 per barrel Monday Jan. 15, and US domestic price-pin West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hitting $64.89/bbl the following day. Tighter markets mean both crude benchmarks are about 13% above early December levels, helped by production curbs by Opec and Russia as well as healthy demand growth. But there are fears that the speculative bubble surrounding prices could soon burst with money managers holding record length in both contracts, according to exchange reports. Nonetheless, several analysts have raised their expectations for 2018 prices on the back of the latest rally. In a note on Tuesday, US bank Morgan Stanley said it now sees Brent hitting $75/bbl by the third quarter of 2018, while US crude could hit $70/bbl. Brent settled at $69.31/bbl Thursday, up just 5￠/bbl on the week while WTI ended 15￠/bbl higher at $63.95/ bbl. US crude tanks fell by 6.9 million bbl in the week ending Jan.12, according to data released on Thursday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), with a particularly large 4.2 mil- lion bbl drop seen at WTI’s Cushing, Oklahoma pricing point. US diesel tanks also fell sharply on cold weather but gasoline invento- ries built to almost year-earlier levels. Markets may come under pressure from rising US production, analysts say. On Tuesday, the EIA said it expected US oil output to increase in February, with pro- duction from shale rising by 111,000 barrels per day to 6.55 million b/d. US crude output is expected to soon break 10 million b/d, chal-lenging top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, which have been deliberately holding back production since January last year.