Crude ends modestly higher

Crude rises for fifth straight day

Crude-oil futures touched a fresh record once again above $124 today, 08 May, 2008, Thursday. Weaker dollar and tensions regarding overall global supplies were the main reasons to push crude prices higher today. Prices for crude oil have been hovering around $124 against a backdrop of disruptions to oil production in Nigeria.

Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June delivery closed at $123.69/barrel (higher by $0.16/barrel or 0.1%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Price touched a high of $124.5 earlier during the day. In the past five sessions, crude prices have gone up by almost $11.2 (9.9%). For the year, crude is up by 26.8% till date.

On the currency markets today, the dollar was modestly lower losing ground to the euro and the pound after both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both decided to hold policy steady. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet cited inflation risks in his statement, further bolstering the common currency. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.2% to 73.37.

EIA reported yesterday that crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended 2 May. Supplies of oil have now climbed a total of 11.9 million barrels over the past three weeks.

EIA also reported that motor gasoline supplies climbed 800,000 barrels to 211.9 million barrels last week and distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels at 105.7 million barrels. The decline in distillate supplies last week came as refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week earlier

June natural gas finished 7 cents lower at $11.26 per million British thermal units today. EIA reported today that natural-gas inventories rose by 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended 2 May. Total stocks now stand at 1.436 trillion cubic feet, down 284 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level and 11 billion cubic feet below the five-year average.

Against this backdrop, June reformulated gasoline closed up 2 cents at $3.14 a gallon while June heating oil rose 6 cents to end at $3.51 a gallon.

EIA reported earlier this week that global oil consumption will likely grow by 1.2 million barrels per day this year, but the consumption of liquid fuels and other petroleum is expected to decline by around 190,000 barrels per day because of the economic slowdown and high petroleum prices. The EIA also expects regular gasoline prices to average $3.52 per gallon this year, up 71 cents from a year ago.

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

At the MCX, crude oil for May delivery closed at Rs 5,095/barrel, higher by Rs 7 (0.13%) against previous day’s close. Natural gas for July delivery closed at Rs 467.3/mmbtu, higher by Rs 0.4/mmbtu (0.08%).