Peak oil notes – May 23

A mid-week update. Oil prices have fallen $2-3 a barrel this week on weaker demand, increased US production, rising product stockpiles, and a stronger dollar. At the close on Wednesday, NY oil settled at $94.28 and London at $102.60 with the WTI-Brent spread climbing to $8.32. The weekly stocks report showed stocks at Cushing, Okla. increasing to by 450,000 barrels to 50.2 million last week. The report also showed US gasoline consumptionover the last four weeks at 8.5 million b/d, the lowest level in ten years.

Peak oil notes – May 16

A mid-week update. While oil prices are little changed this week, there has been considerable news concerning the energy markets. Bad economic reports from Europe, the US, and China have helped keep pressure on the markets and raised fears of lower demand for oil in the months ahead. The worse-than-expected economic news, however, pushed the S and P to a new high Wednesday on the hope that Federal Reserve will continue quantitative easing. The increase in equities helped oil prices to recover from losses earlier in the week. At the close, NY oil was $94.30 a barrel while London had climbed to $103.68 thereby widening the WTI-London spread to $9.38 from Monday’s close of $7.65.