Commodities » Energy

Oil and natural gas daily review (February 23, 2010)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Crude oil futures rose on Monday, settling above $80 a barrel after seesawing as striking French refinery workers and concerns about Iran helped crude oil finish higher for a fifth consecutive session.

IN FOCUS

- U.S. stocks finished flat on Monday as investors held back before congressional testimony by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday and Thursday, while scattered buying lifted shares of health insurers and banks.

- Motorists rushed to the pumps on the sixth day of a Total refinery workers' strike which a union said will close over half of France's oil refining capacity and has drawn in President Nicolas Sarkozy.

- France has over 12,500 petrol stations and Total supplies half of the country with petrol. Many motorists took to the roads this weekend for school holidays.

- South Korea imported 19.5 percent less crude in January than the prior year but imports rose from December on improved refining margins, state-run Korea National Oil Corp said on Tuesday.

- U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.9 million barrels in the week to Feb. 19 as imports continued to increase, a preliminary poll of industry analysts ahead of weekly inventory reports showed on Monday.

- Distillate supplies declined by 1.9 million barrels, the poll showed, as an extended cold in the U.S. Northeast, the top heating oil market, helped raise heating oil demand. Gasoline stocks rose 500,000 barrels, with demand seen sluggish as cold weather remained a deterrent to longer road trips, analysts said.

- Refinery utilization was forecast up 0.2 percentage point, to 80 percent of capacity.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Crude oil is trading almost 0.50% lower on NYMEX on the back of robust import number which has boosted US crude supplies. Outlook for crude oil is sideways to up for the day on the back of Frence refiners strike and Iran's geopolitical tensions are likely to lend some support to crude oil prices during today's trading session.