Crude oil prices nearly unchanged on session

Crude oil prices climbed only slightly Wednesday, erasing bigger gains that came when the US Energy Information Administration released its latest US inventories report and on the news that Iran had tested medium and long-range missiles, some of which have the potential to reach Israel and Turkey, during war games in the Persian Gulf region.

The EIA said that while gasoline and distillates stockpiles were up in the week ending 4 July, crude oil inventories dropped b y 5.9 million barrels during the week, much more than had been anticipated.

Gasoline stockpiles added 900,000 barrels to 211.8 million barrels, 6.2 million barrels above last year at this time, while distillates in storage added 1.8 million barrels to 122.5 million barrels to climb to 100,000 barrels above last year’s level.

August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude ended up adding just 3 cents to $136.07 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude gained 5 cents to $136.48 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex August gasoline was up a cent to $3.37 per gallon and August heating oil was 6 cents higher to $3.88 per gallon but August natural gas dropped 37 cents to $12 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were higher, with August gold adding $5.40 to $928.40 per troy ounce in New York while September silver was up 23 cents to $18.18 per troy ounce and October platinum gained $19.10 to $1,972 per troy ounce.

Most base metals prices were also higher as the US dollar weakened and crude oil prices gained back some of their early-week declines before closing nearly even.

Among base metals, aluminium added $45 to $3,190 per tonne in London but was still off Monday’s record of $3,320 per tonne on continuing supply worries due to energy shortages to Chinese smelters.

Copper was unchanged at $8,200 per tonne in London but in New York September copper added 4 cents to $3.74 per pound, while zinc added $115 to $1,865 per tonne in London and lead was up $160 to $1,790 per tonne.

Grains prices were mixed.

December corn on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 9 cents to $7.12 per bushel on warm, wet growing conditions in the US Midwest that are expected to help yields, while CBOT September wheat dropped 10 cents to $8.25 per bushel.

November soybeans, however, added 27 cents to $15.57 on speculation that new government data due for release on Friday, will show inventories forecasts down after bad weather in US growing areas last month.

Story link: Crude oil prices nearly unchanged on session