WTI lower as demand overshadows Libya risk

U.S. crude oil fell more than 1% Wednesday to settle below $75 per barrel as the market continues to shed gains made earlier in the week on the threat of supply disruptions in Libya.

“Oil prices remain range-bound, despite the potential of a large disruption in Libyan supplies and elevated tensions in the Middle East,” Amarpreet Singh, energy analyst at Barclays, told clients Tuesday.

Singh said this is due to lackluster demand in China, risks of a broader economic slowdown and few signs that OPEC+ will back off plans to increase production in the fourth quarter.

U.S. crude oil settled more than 2% lower on Tuesday.

Here are Wednesday’s closing energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate October contract: $74.52 per barrel, down $1.01, or 1.34%. Year to date, U.S. oil has gained 4%.
• Brent October contract: $78.65 per barrel, down 90 cents, or 1.13%. Year to date, the global benchmark is ahead 2.1%.
• RBOB Gasoline September contract: $2.21 per gallon, down 3 cents, or 1.43%. Year to date, gasoline is up 5.3%.
• Natural Gas September contract: $1.93 per thousand cubic feet, up more than 2 cents, or 1.37%. Year to date, gas is down about 23%.

Some 1.2 million barrels per day of oil are at risk as rival governments in Libya are locked in a dispute over who should lead the country’s central bank.

The eastern government in Benghazi threatened Monday to shut down all production and exports, which triggered a rally in oil prices. But crude futures have pulled back as it remains unclear how much supply has actually gone offline in the OPEC member.

Several oilfields have halted production in Libya, engineers told Reuters. But the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli and the country’s national oil corporation have not confirmed any outages.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 800,000 barrels for the week that ended Aug. 23, while gasoline stocks dropped by 2.2 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. Gasoline supplied to the market, a proxy for demand, rose by 115,000 barrels per day.

“Despite apparent robust refinery runs, gasoline inventories drew amid stronger implied demand as we are in the last hurrah of summer driving season,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler.

“Gas stations are likely stocking up ahead of the Labor Day weekend,” Smith said.