Commodities » Energy

Oil and natural gas daily review (March 05, 2010)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Crude Oil futures ended lower on Thursday, easing from a seven-week high hit Wednesday, as the dollar rebounded and downbeat home sales data overshadowed positive economic reports of the day.

IN FOCUS

- OPEC-member Kuwait has notified at least two customers in Asia that it will keep curbs on term crude oil supplies in April- June steady from January-March, sources at the term buyers said on Friday. Kuwait Petroleum Co (KPC) told the term buyers that they would continue to receive 5 percent below contracted volumes in the second quarter of 2010, the sources said.

- Oil stored at the Cushing, Oklahoma, NYMEX delivery hub rose by 911,583 barrels to 31.74 million barrels in the week to March 2, according to a report from energy industry data provider Genscape.

- Oil product floating storage volumes have fallen to 71.27 million barrels from 80.22 early last month and could fall more in the next few weeks, ship broker ICAP said

- China's export-oriented refiner WEPEC will raise crude oil processing in March by about 14 percent from Feburary after finishing maintenance of its 60,000 barrel per day (bpd) catalytic cracker, an industry source said on Thursday. Crude throughput would increase to 169,500 barrels per day (bpd) this month from some 148,600 bpd in Feburary.

- OPEC, the source of more than a third of the world's oil, next meets to set policy on March 17 and the widening gap between its supply target and actual output is likely to be a main topic of debate.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

U.S. crude futures are trading a tad higher on NYMEX today. We expect crude oil prices to trade firm taking cues from strong opening in Asian stocks markets.