Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crude oil, Cushing, energy, Keystone pipeline, North Sea, oil prices, WTI
West Texas Intermediate crude became more expensive than Brent for the first time in almost three years as pipeline and rail shipments helped clear a bottleneck that reduced the price of the U.S. benchmark.
WTI hadn’t been higher than Brent since Aug. 17, 2010. The move was in intraday trading. WTI averaged $17.47 less than Brent in 2012 and traded as much as $23.44 lower than its European counterpart Feb. 8.
Improved pipeline networks and the use of rail links are helping to ease the North American oil glut created by rising production of crude from shale formations. WTI has jumped 18 percent this year, while Brent has decreased 2.5 percent as North Sea supplies stabilized after maintenance.
via WTI Crude Exceeds Brent for First Time in Almost Three Years – Bloomberg.
Filed under: maps, Uncategorized | Tags: crude oil supply, Cushing, EIA, energy, oil pipelines, oil transportation, petroleum products, pipeline map, refineries, US oil production, WTI
Via EIA:
This Week In Petroleum Summary Printer-Friendly Version.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crude oil, Cushing, James Hamilton, peak oil, Seaway pipeline, spread, WTI
click to enlarge
Blue is Brent, black is WTI, green is the spread between them.
A relatively recent phenomenon explained by James Hamilton:
West Texas Intermediate is a particular grade of crude oil whose price is usually quoted in terms of delivery in Cushing, Oklahoma. Brent is a very similar crude from Europe’s North Sea. As similar products, you’d expect them to sell for close to the same price, and up until 2010 they usually did. But an increase in production in Canada and the central U.S. combined with a decrease in U.S. consumption has led to a surplus of oil in the central U.S. This overwhelmed existing infrastructure for cheap transportation of crude from Cushing to the coast, causing a big spread to develop between the prices of WTI and Brent.
via Econbrowser: Prices of gasoline and crude oil.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2013 oil price, Brent, crack spread, crude oil, EIA, energy, gas prices, oil price predictions, refinery profits, transportation, WTI
Always kind of funny. Flat-line forever.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, Fatthouh, futures prices, James Hamilton, Kilian, Mahadeva, NYMEX, oil prices, speculation, spot prices, WTI
A paper by Fatthouh, Kilian and Mahadeva (pdf)
Abstract: A popular view is that the surge in the price of oil during 2003-08 cannot be explained by economic fundamentals, but was caused by the increased financialization of oil futures markets, which in turn allowed speculation to become a major determinant of the spot price of oil. This interpretation has been driving policy efforts to regulate oil futures markets. This survey reviews the evidence supporting this view. We identify six strands in the literature corresponding to different empirical methodologies and discuss to what extent each approach sheds light on the role of speculation. We find that the existing evidence is not supportive of an important role of speculation in driving the spot price of oil after 2003. Instead, there is strong evidence that the co-movement between spot and futures prices reflects common economic fundamentals rather than the financialization of oil futures markets.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, Chris Cook, cornucopianism, EROI, market manipulation, Naked Capitalism, peak oil, refineries, WTI
…has little to do with geology, EROI and all that, and everything to do with manipulation by market players. An interesting take, although I don’t get on board with any analyst that completely ignores an entire wing of the mental hospital of energy ideas.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/chris-cook-the-oil-end-game.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, Cushing, Gulf Coast leg, Keystone XL, NYMEX, oil pipelines, pipelines, TransCanada, WTI
Doesn’t need fed approval for that.
TransCanada said Monday that a 700,000 barrel-per-day Gulf Coast leg originally part of the Alberta-to-Texas Keystone XL proposal is now a separate $2.3-billion US project that doesn’t require a cross-border presidential permit. Obama denied Keystone XL a construction permit in January, following a delay of the project last November caused by an extension of U.S. environmental review.
The link between an oversupplied Oklahoma oil storage hub and the world’s largest refining market in Texas will help relieve a glut in crude supply in the U.S. Midwest upon startup in mid to late 2013, the company said.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crude oil, crude oil prices, EIA, energy, Energy Information Administration, NYMEX, oil price, oil price predictions, oil prices, peak oil, WTI
Via http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/early_prices.cfm
Consider in light of their historical track record, which has … not been good.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crack spread, crude oil and gasoline prices, energy, fuel prices, gas prices, James Hamilton, oil price, peak oil, petrol, petroleum, WTI
My rule of thumb has been that for every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of crude oil, U.S. consumers are likely to pay 2-1/2 more cents for a gallon of gasoline.
Hamilton points to the lack of adequate pipeline infrastructure in the US to explain the gap between Brent and WTI.
via http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2012/02/crude_oil_and_g.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: albatross, Brent, crude oil, fuel costs, gas prices, gasoline, Jevon's Paradox, Peak Demand, Peak Everything, peak oil, vehicle miles traveled, Vmt, WTI
VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) up slightly in December relative to last December, but down overall for the year, and below its previous peak now for 49 months. With fuel prices on the rise it doesn’t look like it will break above that for quite some time — if ever.
But what do I know.. People are buying cars again. It’s Halftime in America and “the SUV is back.”
From the DOT:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, Brent crude, energy, Greece, Iran, North Sea, oil price, oil production, peak oil, price of oil, Reuters, WTI
Crude oil output from the North Sea, home of the global Brent benchmark, is set to fall in March for a third month due to maintenance work and natural aging of oilfields there.
Supply will average 2.18 million barrels per day in March, down 1.4 percent from 2.12 million bpd the previous month, data compiled by Reuters showed on Tuesday.
via Brent tops $120 on Iran, North Sea, Greece | Reuters.
This report was the product of at least four reporters and two editors.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, energy, gasoline consumption, gasoline demand, gasoline prices, Magic Land, oil demand, refineries, refinery closings, USA Today, WTI
We live in Magic Land.
Refinery closings could push gasoline prices back to $4 – USATODAY.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crude oil prices, Cushing, EIA, feedstock, refineries, refinery, refinery acquisition costs, This Week in Petroleum, US refineries, WTI
The cost of the raw material varies greatly around the country. This is the featured chart on EIA’s This Week in Petroleum.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, crude oil, Ed Walsh, energy, gasoline, Iran, oil price, peak oil, Tom Keene, WTI
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brent, Canada, James Hamilton, pipelines, shale oil, supply, tar sands, WTI
Econbrowser: Implications of the recent rise in oil prices.
The discrepancy between Brent and WTI resulted from the increase in supply in N. America, from shale oil and Canadian tar sands.
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 