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June 15, 2007
Crude continues role, I bet ovefr $70 by the 4th
thanks AGE
Brent Crude already over $70. WTI will be there soon.
Crude oil futures rose to $68 a barrel Friday for the first time since March, extending a rally that was sparked earlier in the week by renewed worries about U.S. gasoline supplies and violence in the Palestinian territories. Gasoline futures led the rally, as traders continued to worry about U.S. refiners' ability to meet summer demand two days after the Department of Energy reported an unexpected drop in U.S. refinery utilization. "I still think we're reacting to the wildly bullish DOE report, which showed continued strong demand for gasoline and the inability of refiners to produce, and which set the tone for the week," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "On top of that, there is concern that the fighting in Gaza is going to spin out of control and that is making people reluctant to go home short." The July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 35 cents to a high of $68 a barrel, the highest level for a front-month contract since March 27, when futures rose as high as $68.09 a barrel. A breach of $68.00-$68.07 a barrel could set up futures for a push to $70.00 a barrel, a level not seen since last September. The August Brent contract on ICE Futures, trading on its first day as the front-month contract, was down 17 cents at $71.19 a barrel after rising as high as $71.50 a barrel. Reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, for July delivery rose 3.29 cents to $2.2576 a gallon. July heating oil gained 16 points to $2.0177 a gallon. Gasoline futures, which fell through much of May and early this month, rose Wednesday after the DOE's Energy Information Administration reported that refinery utilization fell by 0.4 percentage point to 89.2% of capacity last week while gasoline stocks remained flat at 201.5 million barrels, well below their five-year average for this time of year. Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) shut a hydrocracker unit at its 340,000-barrel-a-day Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery on Thursday, due to the loss of a filter seal, according to a report filed with state environmental regulators. A week ago, Valero reported the shutdown of a hydrocracker unit at the Corpus Christi plant due to a malfunction in associated equipment, a separate filing to the TCEQ said. Concern over Middle East stability grew a day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas gained control of Gaza Strip. Israel's foreign minister said a proposed multinational force deployed along Gaza's border with Egypt must be willing to fight Hamas to stop weapons smuggling in the area. Traders worry that the factional fighting among Palestinian groups could snowball and further destabilize the region, home to two-thirds of the world's oil supplies, Flynn said. "The Middle East is definitely supportive, not that it's going to affect supplies, but people are going to be uncomfortable going home short with all the uncertainty," he said.
Posted by Martin at June 15, 2007 10:59 AM
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