Oil futures fell early Thursday as traders put worries over the potential for shipping disruptions in the Red Sea on the back burner and awaited official data on U.S. crude inventories after an industry report showed an unexpected rise in stocks.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
-1.04%
for February delivery
CL.1,
-1.04% CLG24,
-1.04%
fell 89 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
February Brent crude
BRNG24,
-1.13% ,
the global benchmark, was down 93 cents or 1.2%, at $78.72 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. -
Back on Nymex, January gasoline
RBF24,
-0.79%
fell 1% to $2.134 a gallon, while January heating oil
HOF24,
-0.45%
was off 0.6% at $2.609 a gallon. -
January natural gas
NGF24
was flat at $2.619 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
Shipping company Maersk
MAERSK.A,
MAERSK.B,
on Wednesday said it had scheduled several dozen container ships to move via the Suez Canal and Red sea in coming days and weeks, news reports said. Maersk and other shippers had previously rerouted ships away from the area after a series of drone and missile attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The U.S. last week announced the formation of a naval alliance to thwart the attacks, which had raised concerns about potential disruptions to oil shipments from the Middle East.
“Oil prices fell as global shipping giants prepared to resume navigation through the Red Sea despite ongoing missile attacks from Houthi rebels.,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, in a note. “The decision to resume operations reflects a calculated risk, betting on the success of a new multinational maritime task force, Prosperity Guardian, commissioned to safeguard the region.”
The American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported U.S. crude inventories rose 1.8 million barrels last week, according to a source citing the data.
The Energy Information Administration will release official data on U.S. crude inventories Thursday morning, the report delayed a day due to Monday’s Christmas Day holiday.
Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insight, on average, look for a 3.5 million barrel drop in crude inventories for the week ended Dec. 22. Gasoline supplies were seen rising 710,000 barrels, with distillates down 50,000 barrels.
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