Cameron Hanover – Daily Energy Hedger – September 13, 2010

Oil prices started trading erratically and in larger-than-normal-sized figures early Friday morning on Globex, and they had a peculiarly strong day to end the week. Prices were higher early Friday in trading in Asia and electronically and they had two fairly decent-sized selloffs followed by equally large rallies before the Nymex ever opened. Higher equities prices gave the market its firmer early morning tone, but prices really surged as traders started to take on board a leak in the 6a pipeline in Illinois (670,000 bpd) run by Enbridge Energy Partners. This pipeline carries crude from Canada to the upper Midwest, and it had had an earlier rupture in Michigan in July.