Crude oil tanks are seen in an aerial photo at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S., April 21, 2020.
Drone Base Drone Base | Reuters
US crude oil futures rose on Monday ahead of the July 4 holiday, after posting a 6% gain last month on fears of a broader war in the Middle East and fuel demand expectations. May increase in summer.
Despite steady increases in oil prices, the average price for a gallon of gasoline remains at $3.49 nationwide, down about 5 cents from last month.
Here are today’s energy prices:
- West Texas Intermediate August contract: $82.04 a barrel, up 50 cents, or 0.61%. Year-to-date, U.S. oil prices are up 14.5%.
- Brent oil September contract: $85.58 a barrel, up 58 cents, or 0.68%. Year-to-date, the global benchmark price has increased 11.1%.
- RBOB Gasoline August contract: 2.53 USD/gallon, up 1.43%. From the beginning of the year until now, gasoline has increased by 20.5%.
- Nature Air August contract: $2.55 per thousand cubic feet, down 1.92%. Up to now, gas prices increased by 1.4%.
Oil market speculators have added to their long positions, betting on higher prices as tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon “have proven to be a major driver of recent price increases,” commodity strategists at TD Securities told clients in a note on Friday.
WTI vs Brent
“However, this increase in risk premium is only likely to support prices and not spur a new recovery,” TD strategists said.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan is forecasting a global oil liquids deficit of 1 million barrels per day or bpd in the third quarter and a large decline of 1.9 million bpd in August.
