Oil futures ended lower Monday, pulling back from nearly four-month highs, as traders looked for a catalyst for further gains.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery
CL00,
+0.22% WBS00,
+0.24%
fell 88 cents, or 1.1%, to close at $81.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
October Brent
BRN00,
+0.15% BRNV23,
+0.15% ,
the global benchmark, settled at $85.34 a barrel, down 90 cents, or 1%, on ICE Futures Europe. -
Back on Nymex, September gasoline
RBU23,
+0.49%
rose 0.8% to finish at $2.804 a gallon, while September heating oil
HOU23,
+0.21%
declined 1.5% to $3.016 a gallon. -
September natural gas
NGU23,
-0.22%
rose 5.7% to end at $2.725 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
Oil ended last week on a strong note, finishing Friday at the highest since mid-April and logging a sixth straight weekly decline. Crude was boosted last week as Saudi Arabia extended a production cut of 1 million barrels a day that took effect in July through the end of September.
Expectations for a supply deficit in the second half of 2023 and fading fears of a recession have helped fuel a bounce by crude, though analysts said jitters over a potential slowdown haven’t been fully erased.
“Looking ahead, WTI is testing key 2023 price resistance but has not yet definitively broken out to the upside,” wrote analysts at Sevens Report Research. “And until we get new highs, the outlook for oil will remain neutral as investors continued to weigh bullish, tight physical market dynamics right now against lingering recession worries.”
Natural gas was lifted as “temperature outlooks tease scorching heat around the lower 48 through late August,” said Victoria Dircksen, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, in a note.
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