US oil prices fell back on Tuesday in volatile trading while Brent crude clung to gains after news that Suez Canal operations were unaffected by strikes helped alleviate the latest concerns about Egypt's turmoil and the region's supplies. Strikes by workers at companies in the Suez Canal zone will not affect the canal operations and movement of ships, a senior canal official told Reuters.
Increased production by Saudi Arabia in November and December, according to a report from the US Energy Information Administration, also helped cool crude prices, according to analysts and brokers. Oil futures had earlier turned positive on crude supply disruptions in the United States and Colombia and as gasoline futures rallied on refinery outages, helping offset pressure on oil from China's second interest rate increase in six weeks.
In London, ICE Brent crude for March was up 58 cents at $99.83 a barrel at 2:01 pm EST (1901 GMT), having traded from $97.51 to $100.42. US crude oil for March delivery fell 58 cents to $86.90 a barrel.
Amid the volatility, Brent's premium against US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude hit a record high above $13 a barrel, surpassing the previous record of $12.72 from January 16, 2009, according to Reuters data. US gasoline futures rose, helped by news that a loss of steam forced Valero Energy Corp to shut down a gasoline-making unit at its 287,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The company said it was not clear when the unit would restart. Crude oil prices on both sides of the Atlantic fell sharply earlier, after China moved to tame inflation with an interest rate increase, the second in just over six weeks.
Comments
Comments are closed.