WTI Crude Oil Trades Below $100 a Second Day as U.S. Supplies Gain

By Grant Smith - Oct 22, 2013

West Texas Intermediate traded below $100 a barrel for a second day after crude stockpiles rose to a 15-week high in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. The grade’s discount to Brent jumped to its biggest since April.

Futures were little changed, recovering from a three-month low amid speculation the Federal Reserve will maintain stimulus after data showed the U.S. added fewer jobs than forecast in September. Crude inventories increased by 4 million barrels to 374.5 million in the week ended Oct. 11, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Supplies were projected to climb by 3 million, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

“Relatively low refining runs and slow pre-winter demand continue to weigh on WTI,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. “There is little scope for a WTI price rebound at the moment given slackening fundamentals.”

WTI for November delivery, which expires today, decreased as much as 55 cents to $98.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more-active December contract was at $99.76, up 8 cents, as of 2:04 p.m. London time. The volume of all futures traded was 52 percent higher than the 100-day average.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-21/wti-oil-trades-below-100-a-second-day-as-u-s-stockpiles-gain.html