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1/ ICE Brent's premium to U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude reached $8.59 intraday on Friday, its highest since February 2009, on tight North Sea crude supplies and strong emerging market demand.
Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday four North Sea Brent oil and gas platforms, which shut down on Saturday, are expected to remain closed for several weeks.
2/ U.S. crude demand is set to fall with the onset of a peak refinery maintenance season, Peter Beutel, president of U.S. trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover, said in a note late Friday.
"With the information that refineries had cut utilisation by 3.4 percent, the DOE (Department of Energy) signalled that turnarounds have begun in earnest," he said.
3/ Astmax's Emori said fundamentals in the oil market are still much weaker than other commodities such as grains and metals.
"We don't see any tightness in the oil market at the moment," he said, adding that the price gap between front and back-month contracts may widen further.
However, traders will, at some stage, have to take profits on the wide spread between Brent and WTI, Emori said, adding that investors should remain cautious.
1/ ICE Brent's premium to U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude reached $8.59 intraday on Friday, its highest since February 2009, on tight North Sea crude supplies and strong emerging market demand.
Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday four North Sea Brent oil and gas platforms, which shut down on Saturday, are expected to remain closed for several weeks.
2/ U.S. crude demand is set to fall with the onset of a peak refinery maintenance season, Peter Beutel, president of U.S. trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover, said in a note late Friday.
"With the information that refineries had cut utilisation by 3.4 percent, the DOE (Department of Energy) signalled that turnarounds have begun in earnest," he said.
3/ Astmax's Emori said fundamentals in the oil market are still much weaker than other commodities such as grains and metals.
"We don't see any tightness in the oil market at the moment," he said, adding that the price gap between front and back-month contracts may widen further.
However, traders will, at some stage, have to take profits on the wide spread between Brent and WTI, Emori said, adding that investors should remain cautious.
