Commodities » Energy

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

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

U.S. crude oil futures lost further ground in post-settlement trading on Wednesday as weather worries eased after news that a tropical depression over the Gulf of Mexico had dissipated. U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week, but oil product stocks rose even as refineries processed less crude, a sign of sagging fuel demand, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday.

IN FOCUS

- U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week, but oil product stocks rose even as refineries processed less crude, a sign of sagging fuel demand, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday.

- Global oil demand growth will inch higher over the rest of this year and into 2011, but any rise could be eroded if the economy is weaker than forecast, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

- China has completed a crude storage farm of about 26 million barrels in Qinzhou in the southern Guangxi region, near a new refinery that Petro China <0857.HK> has just built, the official Economic Daily reported on Thursday.

- China's crude oil output rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier to 17.22 million tonnes or 4.06 million barrels per day in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

- Enbridge Inc shut its 190,000 barrel per day Line 6B crude oil pipeline after a leak on July 26 in Marshall, Michigan. The line runs northeast from Indiana to Sarnia, Ontario.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Crude oil prices are trading sideways to down on NYMEX today. Crude oil is expected to extend its down side rally today on account of weakness in equity market is likely to weigh on prices. Selling on rise is recommended today.