Crude oil and refined product futures contracts were sharply lower at midday Tuesday after the market was closed on Monday for the U.S. Presidents Day holiday.
Oil contracts were down by more than $1/bbl as of noon ET. Nearly all market attention on the NYMEX April West Texas Intermediate crude contract, which was $1.30 lower at $77.16/bbl. The lightly traded March contract was off by 33cts to $78.86/bbl. The April Brent contract was $1.25 lower at $82.31/bbl and the May Brent was down $1.20 to $81.53/bbl.
Diesel futures were sharply lower with the NYMEX March ULSD contract down by 6.25cts to $2.7441/gal while the more active April contract was off by 6cts to $2.6921/gal.
The NYMEX March RBOB contract was 3.83cts lower at $2.2977/gal and the April contract, which reflects more expensive summer blends, was off by 4.88cts to $2.5295/gal.
The American Petroleum Institute, which normally releases its weekly inventory data after markets close on Tuesdays, will release its data on Wednesday due holiday and the Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum status report, normally released Wednesday morning, will be issued on Thursday.
Oil prices ended last week at their highest levels in more than a month, even as U.S. inventories have jumped in response to reduced U.S. refinery operations because of seasonal maintenance and unplanned outages.
Diesel futures have been pressured by weaker demand and a warmer-than-expected winter, which has reduced heating oil consumption and the need for fuel switching.
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 Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-20-24 1254ET
