Oil falls for a third day on rising supplies
Thursday, 29 April 2010
NEW YORK, April 28 (Bloomberg): Crude oil fell for a third day on signs that US inventories are continuing to increase while credit-rating downgrades on Greece and Portugal fanned concerns that global fuel demand recovery may stall.
A US government report today may show crude-oil and gasoline stockpiles held by the world's biggest energy consumer rose for a second week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Yesterday the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported a 5.3 million barrel gain in crude supplies for the period, while MasterCard Inc. said gasoline demand was at its lowest level in 10 weeks.
"If the situation with Greece gets worse, probably $80 won't stay as the floor," said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich in Vienna. "Demand won't be too much affected, but the euro is, and sentiment is leading to higher risk aversion. It's sentiment-driven."
Oil for June delivery fell as much as $1.15, or 1.4 per cent, to $81.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest since April 19. It was at $81.96 at 12:02 p.m. London time. Brent crude oil for June settlement traded for $85.29 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Based on the API data, the stockpile build is the ninth weekly gain, bringing inventories to the highest since May 2009.
Crude oil lost 2.1 per cent in New York yesterday after Standard & Poor's lowered Greece's debt rating to junk and Portugal's by two steps. Contracts on the Nymex are $3.35 a barrel cheaper than their equivalent in London, the widest discount since Aug. 17.
Crude oil volatility is falling to the lowest level in almost three years as brimming stockpiles and rising OPEC investment in production capacity ease concern of shortages.
Oil's 50-day historical volatility, a measure of how much crude fluctuates around its average price during that period, declined to 23 per cent, the lowest since July 2007. The measure rose to a record 108 per cent at the beginning of 2009 as prices collapsed following the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the onset of global recession.
A US government report today may show crude-oil and gasoline stockpiles held by the world's biggest energy consumer rose for a second week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Yesterday the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported a 5.3 million barrel gain in crude supplies for the period, while MasterCard Inc. said gasoline demand was at its lowest level in 10 weeks.
"If the situation with Greece gets worse, probably $80 won't stay as the floor," said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich in Vienna. "Demand won't be too much affected, but the euro is, and sentiment is leading to higher risk aversion. It's sentiment-driven."
Oil for June delivery fell as much as $1.15, or 1.4 per cent, to $81.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest since April 19. It was at $81.96 at 12:02 p.m. London time. Brent crude oil for June settlement traded for $85.29 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Based on the API data, the stockpile build is the ninth weekly gain, bringing inventories to the highest since May 2009.
Crude oil lost 2.1 per cent in New York yesterday after Standard & Poor's lowered Greece's debt rating to junk and Portugal's by two steps. Contracts on the Nymex are $3.35 a barrel cheaper than their equivalent in London, the widest discount since Aug. 17.
Crude oil volatility is falling to the lowest level in almost three years as brimming stockpiles and rising OPEC investment in production capacity ease concern of shortages.
Oil's 50-day historical volatility, a measure of how much crude fluctuates around its average price during that period, declined to 23 per cent, the lowest since July 2007. The measure rose to a record 108 per cent at the beginning of 2009 as prices collapsed following the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the onset of global recession.