Oil Prices Fall on Dollar Strength

By Nicole Friedman 

Oil prices slid Thursday as a stronger U.S. currency weighed on the dollar-denominated commodity and U.S. oil supplies fell less than expected.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.09, or 1.1%, to $94.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent fell 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $101.83 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.

"The ECB move definitely put a lot of strength into the dollar," weighing on oil prices, said Carl Larry, analyst at Oil Outlooks Opinions.

Prices also slipped after the weekly government storage data showed that U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 29, less than the 1.1-million-barrel drop analysts had expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its weekly inventory data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.

However, the drawdown in stocks was due to Labor Day travel and an effort to use up summer-grade gasoline before refiners start blending winter-grade gasoline, said Citigroup analysts in a note, suggesting that the strong demand might not continue.

Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, traded higher after the report came out but settled down 2.01 cents, or 0.8%, at $2.5999 a gallon.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a decline of 200,000 barrels.

Distillate stocks remain 4.8% below a year ago, the EIA said.

"It's going to be difficult to continue building distillate inventory as we go into the heating-oil season," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "It does concern me."

October diesel fell 2.95 cents, or 1%, to $2.8363 a gallon.

Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3% of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by 0.4 percentage point in the week.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.09, or 1.1%, to $94.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent fell 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $101.83 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.

"The ECB move definitely put a lot of strength into the dollar," weighing on oil prices, said Carl Larry, analyst at Oil Outlooks Opinions.

Prices also slipped after the weekly government storage data showed that U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 29, less than the 1.1-million-barrel drop analysts had expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its weekly inventory data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.

However, the drawdown in stocks was due to Labor Day travel and an effort to use up summer-grade gasoline before refiners start blending winter-grade gasoline, said Citigroup analysts in a note, suggesting that the strong demand might not continue.

Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, traded higher after the report came out but settled down 2.01 cents, or 0.8%, at $2.5999 a gallon.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a decline of 200,000 barrels.

Distillate stocks remain 4.8% below a year ago, the EIA said.

"It's going to be difficult to continue building distillate inventory as we go into the heating-oil season," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "It does concern me."

October diesel fell 2.95 cents, or 1%, to $2.8363 a gallon.

Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3% of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by 0.4 percentage point in the week.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery recently fell 77 cents, or 0.8%, to $94.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent fell 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $102.40 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

U.S. oil supplies fell by 905,000 barrels to 359.6 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The EIA released its weekly inventory data a day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday.

Analysts had expected stocks to fall by 1.1 million barrels on the week, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. Stockpiles are at their lowest since Jan. 31.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 210 million barrels, the lowest level since Nov. 15, 2013. Analysts had predicted a 1.4 million-barrel drop.

Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, rose 0.13 cent, or 0.1%, to $2.6213 a gallon.

"The drawdown in gasoline is definitely bigger than expected," said Bill Baruch, senior market strategist at brokerage iiTrader in Chicago, but overall, "the inventories really aren't too surprising...The stronger dollar is moving the market."

The euro fell to a near 14-month low against the dollar Thursday after the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut its main refinancing and deposit rates in a bid to stimulate an economic recovery in the eurozone. A stronger dollar makes assets such as crude oil more expensive to investors holding other currencies.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 605,000 barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a decline of 200,000 barrels.

October diesel eased 0.96 cent, or 0.3%, to $2.8562 a gallon.

Refining capacity utilization fell 0.2 percentage point to 93.3% of capacity. Analysts had expected the operating rate to fall by 0.4 percentage point in the week.

Write to Nicole Friedman at [e-mail]