Commodities » Energy

Oil and natural gas daily review (March 12, 2010)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Crude Oil settled nearly unchanged above $82 a barrel on NYMEX yesterday amid uncertainty about whether China will tighten monetary policy, which could dent energy demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer..

IN FOCUS

- The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell only slightly last week, indicating a sluggish return to jobs growth. The U.S. trade gap shrank as oil imports fell.

- Total oil consumption by Japan's main utilities dropped in February from a year ago, even as power generation jumped for the month, industry data showed on Friday.

- Pilots stopped moving vessels inbound or outbound at the oil ports of Houston, Texas City and Galveston due to fog, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday. As of late Thursday, at least 46 vessels inbound and 20 outbound were delayed, and most of them were oil tankers, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

- France's biggest union, the CGT, called on Thursday for the restart of a strike at Total's refineries to protest against the oil major's plan to shut its Dunkirk plant and enter an LNG project instead.

- French oil major Total is not ready to invest in Chinese refining assets after the group said late last year it was keen to enter a project in that country, the group's head of strategy said on Thursday

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Crude oil prices held steady above $82 today on NYMEX. We expect crude oil prices to further rally, on views that energy demand will continue to grow despite any efforts by China to tighten monetary policy further on rising inflation.