Oil Down on Bearish Outlook
July 25 2016 - 7:00AM
Dow Jones News
Oil prices gave up ground on Monday, dragged lower by a more
bearish supply and demand outlook.
The global benchmark, Brent, fell 0.5% to $45.45 a barrel. Its
U.S. counterpart, West Texas Intermediate, shed 0.35% to $44.04 a
barrel.
A buildup in oil products stockpiles has helped drag prices
below $45 a barrel. Demand from the traditional centers in Asia is
waning, as domestic production in China increases.
"Market sentiment is gloomy," according to Germany-based
Commerzbank. "Financial investors are continuing to retreat from
the oil market and in so doing are generating increased selling
pressure."
Global oil demand for the third quarter of this year is 66%
lower than it was in the third quarter of 2015, according to
London-based Barclays bank. Slower economic growth has been the
major contributor.
On the supply side, active oil rigs in the U.S. are climbing,
spurring market concerns over the resilience of shale oil. On
Friday, industry group Baker Hughes Inc. reported that the U.S. oil
rig count climbed by 14 to 371, marking a fourth straight weekly
increase.
Over the weekend, Iran began drawing on its floating storage
crude reserves of around 35 million barrels, indicating that supply
in the country is beginning to draw down. Gasoline consumption hit
monthly highs in July, increasing the demand for crude in Iranian
refineries.
But elsewhere, the picture is more bearish. U.S. gasoline stocks
grew 900,000 barrels last week while China's exports of gasoline in
June surged to a historical high.
"[The growth in distillate] was to be expected as many refiners
were producing in a full swing while we are coming to the end of
the driving season," said Avtar Sandhu, Asian commodities analysts
at Phillip Futures, who suggests prices could test support at
around the $41 level.
Investors this week will be keeping a close eye on two major
central banks—the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve—for
their decisions on interest rates and outlooks on their respective
countries.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee will meet on July 26 to
27, followed by the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on July 28 and
29.
Kevin Baxter contributed to this article.
Write to Miriam Malek at Miriam.Malek@wsj.com and Jenny W. Hsu
at jenny.hsu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 25, 2016 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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