By Nicole Friedman
Oil prices slid Thursday as a stronger U.S. currency weighed on
the dollar-denominated commodity and U.S. oil supplies fell less
than expected.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.09, or 1.1%, to
$94.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent fell 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $101.83 a barrel on ICE Futures
Europe.
The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday
after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main
refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic
recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as
crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.
"The ECB move definitely put a lot of strength into the dollar,"
weighing on oil prices, said Carl Larry, analyst at Oil Outlooks
Opinions.
Prices also slipped after the weekly government storage data
showed that U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels in the week
ended Aug. 29, less than the 1.1-million-barrel drop analysts had
expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its
weekly inventory data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day
holiday.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million
barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had
predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
However, the drawdown in stocks was due to Labor Day travel and
an effort to use up summer-grade gasoline before refiners start
blending winter-grade gasoline, said Citigroup analysts in a note,
suggesting that the strong demand might not continue.
Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB,
traded higher after the report came out but settled down 2.01
cents, or 0.8%, at $2.5999 a gallon.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel,
rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a
decline of 200,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks remain 4.8% below a year ago, the EIA
said.
"It's going to be difficult to continue building distillate
inventory as we go into the heating-oil season," said Andy Lipow,
president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "It does concern
me."
October diesel fell 2.95 cents, or 1%, to $2.8363 a gallon.
Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3%
of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by
0.4 percentage point in the week.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.09, or 1.1%, to
$94.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent fell 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $101.83 a barrel on ICE Futures
Europe.
The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday
after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main
refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic
recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as
crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.
"The ECB move definitely put a lot of strength into the dollar,"
weighing on oil prices, said Carl Larry, analyst at Oil Outlooks
Opinions.
Prices also slipped after the weekly government storage data
showed that U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels in the week
ended Aug. 29, less than the 1.1-million-barrel drop analysts had
expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its
weekly inventory data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day
holiday.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million
barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had
predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
However, the drawdown in stocks was due to Labor Day travel and
an effort to use up summer-grade gasoline before refiners start
blending winter-grade gasoline, said Citigroup analysts in a note,
suggesting that the strong demand might not continue.
Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB,
traded higher after the report came out but settled down 2.01
cents, or 0.8%, at $2.5999 a gallon.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel,
rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a
decline of 200,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks remain 4.8% below a year ago, the EIA
said.
"It's going to be difficult to continue building distillate
inventory as we go into the heating-oil season," said Andy Lipow,
president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "It does concern
me."
October diesel fell 2.95 cents, or 1%, to $2.8363 a gallon.
Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3%
of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by
0.4 percentage point in the week.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery recently fell 77 cents,
or 0.8%, to $94.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Brent fell 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $102.40 a barrel on ICE Futures
Europe.
U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels to 359.6 million
barrels in the week ended Aug. 29, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration said Thursday. The EIA released its weekly inventory
data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday.
Analysts had expected stocks to fall by 1.1 million barrels on
the week, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. Stockpiles are
at their lowest since Jan. 31.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million
barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had
predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB,
rose 0.13 cent, or 0.1%, to $2.6213 a gallon.
"The drawdown in gasoline is definitely bigger than expected,"
said Bill Baruch, senior market strategist at brokerage iiTrader in
Chicago, but overall, "the inventories really aren't too
surprising...The stronger dollar is moving the market."
The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday
after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main
refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic
recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as
crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel,
rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a
decline of 200,000 barrels.
October diesel eased 0.96 cent, or 0.3%, to $2.8562 a
gallon.
Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3%
of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by
0.4 percentage point in the week.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com