Oil prices at near US$30 as US crude inventories soar to highs

11-Feb-16

Oil prices have fallen as U.S. crude inventories at the Cushing delivery point rose to record high amid and worries about a global economic slowdown weighed on markets, coupled with remarks by Goldman Sachs that prices would remain low and volatile until H2 of the year, as per cnbc.com. International benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at US$30.67 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $27.01 per barrel, down 44 cents and within a dollar of the US$26.19 a barrel intra-day low hit in January that was the lowest since 2003. Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude futures rose to an all-time high just shy of 65 million barrels, data from the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed. The U.S.-based Schork Report said that seasonally falling crude oil demand towards the end of the winter heating season also weighed on markets. Analysts said that the recent strength in Brent's premium over WTI contracts was supported by U.S. slowing demand and brimming storage. The overhang in oil supplies, together with an economic slowdown in China, means that prices will remain low until the second half of the year, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients.