Crude shoots up

Crude prices cross $70 again on supply concerns

Set of geo political tensions took crude prices back above the $70 mark at Nymex on Monday, 29 June, 2009. Prices rose on Monday after attack on Nigerian pipeline once again raised supply concerns.

On Monday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for July delivery closed at $71.49/barrel (higher by $2.33 or 3.3%). During intra day trading, crude rose to a high of $72.4/barrel. Last week, crude ended lower by 1.2%.

For the month of June, 2009, crude is still 6.3% higher on a m-t-d basis. Crude had ended the month of May, 2009, higher by 30%. This was the largest month gain for crude in almost a decade. Prior to May, crude ended April and March, 2009 higher by 2.9% and 10.9% respectively. It rallied 11.3% in the first quarter.

Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 51.3% since then. Year to date, in 2009, crude prices are higher by 58%.

As per reports, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said that it had struck at the Shell Forcados offshore platform in Delta state. Royal Dutch Shell said that it was shutting down some production in Nigeria after an attack by a militant group. Nigeria is a key exporter of crude.

Also at the Nymex on Monday, July reformulated gasoline rose 6.20 cents to end at $1.936 a gallon and July heating oil gained 5.40 cents to finish at $1.784 a gallon. The gasoline and heating oil contracts expire tomorrow.

August natural-gas futures fell 17 cents to end at $3.94 per million British thermal units.

Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.

At the MCX, crude oil for July delivery closed at Rs 3,449/barrel, higher by Rs 97 (2.9%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for July delivery closed at Rs 192.4/mmbtu, lower by Rs 6.4/mmbtu (3.2%).