The oil complex was down steeply on Tuesday as traders saw bearish factors all around. Alex, reportedly on its way to being upgraded to a hurricane, was tracking northwest-by-west and seemed to be on course to leave the US gulf behind. It looks like it will make landfall in eastern Mexico later this week. That course was no longer seen as being positive for oil prices. [More]

Oil prices gushed higher on Friday as traders nervously eyed the possibility of a tropical storm developing in the Gulf of Mexico. The fear, of course, was that any system that coalesces into an organized storm might threaten crude oil production or refineries in the northern US Gulf. And, we do not need that a system become a full-blown tropical storm or hurricane. A tropical depression would be enough to force precautionary evacuations of a number of oil facilities and installations. [More]

Oil prices gushed higher on Friday as traders nervously eyed the possibility of a tropical storm dfeveloping in the Gulf of Mexico. The fear, of course, was that any system that coalesces into an organized storm might threaten crude oil production or refineries in the northern US Gulf. And, we do not need that a system become a full-blown tropical storm or hurricane. A tropical depression would be enough to force precautionary evacuations of a number of oil facilities and installations. [More]

The oil complex was mixed yesterday, and traders were trying to decide which way to lean. Some traders were focusing on recent economic data, which have been bearish, or on recent oil market data, which have also shown a market with plenty of supplies. Other traders and investors have returned their eyes to the Federal Reserve, which more or less committed itself to an environment of low or negligible interest rates oil for an even more extended period than the the extended period already in place. [More]

This week’s DOE report showed a larger than expected build in crude oil stocks, a smaller than expected build in distillate inventories and a small drawdown in gasoline stocks. These numbers reinforced the generally-held consensus that we have plenty of oil in storage. And, while supplies were building or falling by small amounts, there were fresh concerns over the pace of economic recovery – which will impact demand. [More]

The entire energy complex was lower yesterday, and traders appear to have been reacting to a number of economic reports which came out on the negative side this week. Add to that Monday’s atrong opening and relatively weak close, and one has both fundamental and technical reasons for prices to have moved lower. [More]

Oil prices had a real jump on the market in trading overnight. A little after midnight on Sunday into Monday morning, crude oil prices had broken as high as $78.55, which seemed to make the $78.40 Fibonacci retracement number moot – suggesting that oil priced were in much more than a corrective retracement of the decline from $87.15 to $64.24. [More]

The euro was just about unchanged, the DJIA ended up 16.47 to 10,450.64, and the oil complex took the easy road home for the weekend, with crude oil prices back up and refined products prices back down – giving us basically the inverse of what we had seen on Thursday. [More]

A stronger euro helped push refined products prices higher on Thursday. At the same time, crude oil prices were lower as traders reacted to high inventory levels in Cushing, Oklahoma. Crude oil prices ended a three-day rally - even as refined products prices advanced. [More]

The oil complex started Wednesday under selling pressure. Weak housing starts, retreating equities and a declining euro all sent oil prices lower in trading overnight and early Wednesday morning. By the end of the day, though, prices had recovered. Home construction in the US dropped steeply in May, with housing starts down 10%, which was well beyond the expectations for a decline of a little more than 5%. Housing starts fell to 593,000 with the expiration of tax credits, and new permits were lower. [More]