Short-Term Energy Outlook Market Prices and Uncertainty Report, June 2012.

摘要

Crude oil prices in early January are slightly higher than levels seen one month ago. The front month futures contracts for Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are $3.75 and $1.61 per barrel above their respective closing prices on December 1, 2011 as of January 5, 2012. Both benchmarks continue to trade in the same band that they have been in since coming off their lows in early October. The low and high settlement prices for Brent were $103.35 and $113.70 dollars per barrel while WTI traded in a range of $93.53 to $103.22 dollars per barrel. The brief drop in prices in the middle of December occurred following the decision by OPEC to increase its official production target for the first time since a reduction in the first quarter of 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis.