Petroleum futures were off modestly at midday Thursday in light trading.
Crude oil contracts were higher early in the session, but gave back those gains and more by midday.
The weakness in crude contracts is tied to the current market structure in which physical barrels are priced at significant discounts to futures, suggesting the market is well supplied.
The July Brent contract rose to close to $83/bbl, but was off 56cts to $81.34/bbl shortly after noon ET. The NYMEX July West Texas Intermediate contract was down by 65cts to $76.92/bbl.
Many traders believe OPEC+ needs to expand production cuts if the market is to be brought back into balance, but few are willing to bet on that outcome next week.
Gasoline futures continued to languish, despite predictions of high demand over the extended U.S. Memorial Day weekend. NYMEX RBOB contracts were off modestly at midday with the June contract down 0.03ct to $2.4675/gal.
Spot gasoline price declines were deeper, though prices in the San Francisco market were 6cts/gal higher. Still, Northern California prices are about $1/gal below where they were in the first week of April.
Diesel futures and some U.S. spot markets are flirting with the lowest numbers in more than a year.
The NYMEX June ULSD contract was off by 0.08ct to $2.431/gal and cash markets also were fractionally lower.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Tom Kloza, tkloza@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-23-24 1306ET
