Oil futures trading near Wednesday remained unchanged, moving between gains and losses after finding some temporary support after data showed a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude investments.
West Texas Raw Intermediate for Delivery in February CL.1,
CLG21,
it was down 5 cents, or 0.1%, at $ 47.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $ 48.66. February Brent crude BRN00,
the global benchmark, up 8 cents, or 0.2%, at $ 51.17 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Energy Information Management said crude stock fell by 6.1 million barrels per week to the end of December 25. Analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts, on average, had observed crude stock falling 3.8 million barrels, while in which the American Petroleum Institute, an industry reportedly traded, Tuesday fell 4.8 million barrels.
Oil was encouraged by the report, but the benefits fled. A thin trading position, a kind of holiday in the last session of 2020 and a collection of “competitive headlines” made for volatile price action, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
While investors praised EIA data, which also showed that gasoline deposits for a second week fell amid a strong build-up in demand, upside was limited by the Colorado finding of inter- a more contagious variant of the COVID-19-induced coronavirus, he said.
Flynn said crude was lifted just ahead of EIA data with news reports that the U.S. military flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East on Wednesday amid continued tensions with Iranian-backed militias.
The EIA said gasoline deposits fell 1.2 million barrels, while distillate deposits rose 3.1 million barrels. Analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts expected gasoline deposits to show an increase of 2.3 million barrels and brewing stock to rise 1.3 million barrels.
Oil was also fueled by a weaker U.S. dollar, analysts said. US DXY ICE Dollar Index,
the amount of cash against a basket of six main competitors was down 0.3%. A weaker dollar is generally seen as a positive for commodities, making them cheaper for consumers of other currencies.
The future of natural gas NGG21,
fell 0.9% to $ 2.421 per million British thermal units.
January gasoline futures RBF21,
rose 1.2% to $ 1.404 gallons, and in January heated HOF21 oil,
down 0.3% at $ 1.4816 gallons.