Crude falls for two straight days

Prices fall moderately as US imports fell last week


Crude prices fell lower for the second consecutive day today, Thursday, 10 April, 2008 as the dollar weakened strengthened against its rivals. Prices also fell as an after effect to yesterday’s inventory report by the Energy Department. EIA reported that USA’s oil imports fell last week.

Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $110.11/barrel (lower by $0.76/barrel or 0.78%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, prices touched a high of $112.21 during intra day trading. It was a new all-time record for crude prices. Crude prices are 77% higher on a yearly basis. For the year, crude is up by 13.4% till date.

Last week, crude ended marginally higher by 60 cents as against last week’s previous close at $105.62.

Yesterday, EIA reported today that crude inventory fell to 316 million barrels in the week ended 4 April. This was down 3.2 million barrels on the week. Market was anticipating a build up of inventories around 2.7 million barrels. The unexpected drop in crude inventories came from sliding imports. U.S. oil imports averaged 8.9 million barrels a day last week, down nearly 1.4 million barrels a day from the previous week.

The EIA also reported that U.S. gasoline supplies fell 3.4 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, dropped 3.7 million barrels. U.S. refineries operated at 83% of their operable capacity last week, up from the previous week's 82.4%.

In the currency market today, the dollar rose against its major rivals. The euro pulled back as investors took profits, reversing course after the single currency established a new high earlier against the dollar. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 72.170, up by 0.4%.

Brent crude oil for May settlement today fell $0.27 (0.3%) to $108.2 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The London benchmark rose 54% in FY 2007, the most since 1999 when prices more than doubled.

Natural gas supplies fell last week

Natural gas rose to the highest in more than two years after a government report showed U.S. inventories declined to the lowest since 2005. Gas for May delivery rose 4.2 cents (0.4%) to settle at $10.098 per million British thermal units. EIA reported today that natural gas supplies last week fell to 1.234 trillion cubic feet, 1.8% below the five-year average of 1.257 trillion.

Against this backdrop, May reformulated gasoline rose 1.79 cent to $2.7921 a gallon and May heating oil lost 4.05 cents to $3.194 a gallon.

The EIA reported earlier this week that crude oil this year is forecast to average $100.61 a barrel, up 7% from a March estimate. The monthly average gasoline price in the U.S. is projected to peak near $3.5 a gallon this spring. EIA also said that prices in some regions could surpass $4 a gallon.

EIA also reported that consumption of liquid fuels and other petroleum products is projected to grow by 40,000 barrels a day in 2008, a downward revision of 100,000 barrels a day from the previous monthly forecast. After accounting for increased ethanol use, U.S. petroleum consumption actually could fall by 90,000 barrels a day.

Crude had ended FY 2007 substantially higher by $35 or 57%. It was crude’s biggest yearly gain in five years