Oil Prices

dan_s · Post by **dan_s** » Wed May 01, 2013 2:43 pm

June Crude Oil prices trended lower throughout the session and fell back toward the $90.00 level. Early weakness in the market came from soft Chinese manufacturing data overnight, as well as soft US economic readings this morning. Crude oil prices continued to decline into this morning's EIA inventory report that showed a much larger than expected build of 6.696 million barrels. This brought current US supply to a new record high of 395.28 million barrels. Crude oil imports for the week stood at 8.166 million barrels per day compared to 7.564 million barrels the previous week. The refinery operating rate was up 0.9% to 84.4%. The market managed to stabilize during the early afternoon hours and showed a muted reaction to the Fed's decision to stay the course with current asset purchase program.

Good news is that there appears to be strong support right above $90/bbl for WTI.

IMO OPEC will step up to defend Brent at $100/bbl. They need the money to support their social programs.