WTI drops nearly $4 per barrel

Crude oil prices were down substantially Wednesday on the weekly US inventories report from the Energy Information Administration.

Just before floor trade closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate for January delivery had dropped $3.72 to $90.70 per barrel, while January contracts for Brent crude fell $2.24 to $90.28 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex December gasoline dropped 9 cents to $2.29 per gallon while January heating oil was down 8 cents to $2.58 per gallon and January natural gas fell 33 cents to $7.49 per million British thermal units.

Crude oil inventories overall dropped 400,000 barrels in the week ending 23 November, down 27.6 million barrels from last year at the same time but still in the upper half of average for this time of year, while crude oil in storage at a key Oklahoma depot added 600,000 barrels to its inventories.

Meanwhile, gasoline stockpiles gained 1.4 million barrels to 196.6 million barrels, more than twice the expected increase as demand slowed, while distillates inventories dropped by 100,000 barrels to 130.9 million barrels.

Precious metals prices were lower in New York the US dollar strengthened against the euro.

February gold dropped $14 to trade at $807.20 per troy ounce and December gold contracts were down $13.70 to $800.30 per troy ounce.

March silver was declined, falling 15 cents to $14.53 per troy ounce.

January platinum was down $15.20 to $1,438.53 per troy ounce while December palladium dropped $3.05 to $346.25 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, March copper gained 4 cents to $3.03 per pound in New York while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was also higher, adding $110 to $6,715 per tonne, or $3.05 per pound.

December wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade added the daily limit of 30 cents to $8.59 per bushel, while the March and May 2008 wheat contracts also gained 30 cents each, to $8.81 per bushel and $8.71 per bushel respectively.

Meanwhile, CBOT March corn was up 3.75 cents in afternoon trade to $4.04 per bushel while January soybeans added 5.75 cents to $10.97 per bushel.

Story link: WTI drops nearly $4 per barrel