The light, sweet oil price for August delivery rose July 9 on the New York market to settle at $73.85/bbl, which analysts attributed to continuing supply outages from Libya and Canadian oil sands. The Brent crude oil price for September also rose, settling above $78/bbl.
Unplanned supply outages supported the market with prices holding near more than 3-year highs. Other supply concerns include unilateral US sanctions against Iran, scheduled to become effective Nov. 4, along with Venezuela’s economic crisis and dropping production.
Militia attacks in Libya this year have reduced exports and shut-in production. Libya’s oil output will keep dropping if major ports remain closed after clashes last month led to a political deadlock
Libyan oil production has been cut by half in 5 months, falling to 527,000 b/d compared with 1.28 million b/d in February, said National Oil Corp. Chairman Mustafa Sanalla.
"Tomorrow it will be less and the day after tomorrow less again," Sanalla said. "And we are going lower."
Elsewhere, a power outage at the 360,000-bpd Syncrude Mildred Lake, Alta., oil sands complex in late June reduced flows into Cushing, Okla., the US delivery point. (OGJ Online, June 26, 2018).
Syncrude’s majority stakeholder Suncor Energy Inc. said on July 9 that some Syncrude production will come back in July, but full operations will not be restored until September.
Syncrude is a joint venture of Imperial Oil Ltd., Nexen Oil Sands Partnership, Sinopec Oil Sands Partnership, and Suncor Energy Inc.
Energy prices
The August light, sweet crude contract rose 5¢ to settle at $73.85/bbl on July 9. The September price was up 41¢ to $71.98/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for August fell 3¢ to a rounded $2.83/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $2.86, up 1¢.
Ultralow-sulfur diesel for August increased by 3¢ to a rounded $2.20/gal. The NYMEX reformulated gasoline blendstock for August gained 4¢ to a rounded $2.15/gal.
Brent crude oil for September increased 96¢ to $78.07/bbl on London’s International Commodity Exchange. The October contract gained 94¢ to $77.85/bbl. The gas oil contract for July was $671.75/tonne, up $7.25.
The OPEC basket of crudes average price for July 9 was $75.23, up 73¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
