Petroleum futures were higher in early Wednesday afternoon trading on supportive data from the Energy Information Administration and ongoing worries over a wider conflict in the Mideast.
Brent crude contracts caught early bids and the October contract was up by $2.01 to $78.49/bbl near midday. The NYMEX September West Texas Intermediate contract was $2.16 higher at $75.36/bbl.
That has left some in the market to suggest the summer lows in crude futures were likely set on Friday or Monday. Some physical crude oil blends are performing well with Alaska North Slope barrels commanding a $1.95/bbl premium to WTI futures.
EIA data released at midmorning pointed to a possible lull in gasoline demand, but there appears to be enough refinery downtime and export demand to keep prices stable.
There is also a chance of some tropical development next week with a few models predicting that a storm could enter the Gulf of Mexico.
The NYMEX September RBOB contract was 4.11cts higher at $2.3673/gal and U.S. cash market prices were up by between 3.35 and 8cts/gal. In the Midwest, Group 3 led the charge higher on some buying tied to a fire at Delek's refinery in Arkansas.
The NYMEX September ULSD contract was 6.08cts higher at $2.3566/gal and cash market prices were up by 6-7cts/gal.
While EIA reported U.S. distillate demand last week was tepid, exports rose to one of the highest on record at 1.5 million b/d.
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
08-07-24 1335ET
