Nymex Crude at Two-Week Low on OPEC, Weather
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New York crude oil futures fell to a two-week settlement low Thursday as traders eyed forecasts for warm American November weather and questioned OPEC’s ability to deliver on planned production cuts.
Crude remains locked in a monthlong trading range between $56.55 and $61.70 a barrel as traders wait for solid indications of whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will implement promised production cuts and whether winter heating oil demand will significantly draw on American stockpiles.
The front-month December light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 83 cents, or 1.4%, to $57.88 a barrel, the lowest settlement for a front-month contract since October 20, when crude hit an 11-month low. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell $1.11 to $57.87 a barrel.
December heating oil fell 1.18 cents to $1.6397 a gallon. Front-month unleaded gasoline fell 99 points to $1.4531 a gallon and reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, fell 1.83 cents to $1.4765 a gallon.
Forecaster WxRisk.com said warm fall weather is expected from next week and predicts above-normal temperatures for eastern America from November 7 to November 16.
OPEC member Kuwait joined Iran in saying its part of the cartel’s cuts, due to start November 1, will come from spot sales, not contracted supplies. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the only two of OPEC’s 10 quota-restricted members to so far tell customers they will get less oil in November.
Oil analysts and customers of Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iran, among other OPEC states, say they have yet to see concrete evidence that oil deliveries from those countries will be reduced in November by the agreed levels, if reductions are made at all.
Traders took a mixed view of U.S. Department of Energy storage data released Wednesday, with oil rallying early that day on a fall in distillate and gasoline stockpiles but falling later in the day.