Crude oil and refined product futures were moving marginally higher Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Most trading desks were closed the day after Thanksgiving but prices sank Friday, leaving a sharp week-to-week decline. On Monday, futures are looking to recover some of the downside as January products and February Brent move into the front-month position.

The OPEC+ meeting scheduled for Sunday was pushed to later in the week. The move is seen by some as a possible delay of the oil production restart planned for January and perhaps some infighting on production quotas.

Over the weekend, there was some positive data from China that pointed to an increase in manufacturing activity that could lead to improving oil demand.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate rallied above $69 before scaling back to a more modest $68.30/bbl heading into midday with prices up 30cts. February Brent was also higher this morning by a similar amount as the now prompt February contract was up 27cts at $72.11/bbl.

RBOB futures were seeing the better of the increase Monday with January up 2cts after settling below the $1.90/gal level on Friday. There has been a tendency over the past few years for RBOB to bottom out for the year over the next two weeks, so history is a headwind for gasoline futures this week.

January RBOB at the peak this morning was trading just over $1.93/gal, but has backtracked a little more than a cent as the contract last traded at $1.9195/gal, up 2.07cts. Of the seven U.S. spot markets, only Los Angeles is pricing above the $2/gal level, and it is just barely over that mark. Midwest prices are currently the lowest in the $1.75/gal area at publication time.

The diesel market was up nominally Monday, along with natural gas sliding as December forecasts are trending warmer, despite the cold start to the month.

January diesel at one point was up about 3cts, but heading into midday the contract was trading at $2.1975/gal, up a half cent. Each of the past three trading sessions saw ULSD drop below the $2.19/gal mark, but it has been able to find some buying once futures reached the $2.185/gal area.


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 Denton Cinquegrana, dcinquegrana@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-02-24 1225ET