West Texas Intermediate oil traded fell on Tuesday, but settled above the session’s worst levels, finding some support on the back of a climb in U.S. and Chinese stock markets, as Brent prices recouped all of their losses in the previous session. The petroleum markets recovered from their lows “after an afternoon rally drove the Shanghai Composite Index to a 2.92% Tuesday gain, with traders noting the late surge was consistent with past government stimulus efforts,” Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures, said in a note. U.S. equities rallied too. October WTI crude settled at $45.94 a barrel, down 11 cents, or 0.2%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after tapping a low of $44.14. Brent crude for October delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $1.89, or about 4%, to $49.52 a barrel in the wake of a 4% decline on Monday.
WTI crude climbed 1.8% last week but there was no price settlement on Nymex Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. Percent changes were “skewed” Tuesday because there was no Nymex settlement Monday and the change was based on Friday’s close, said Tyler Richey, co-editor of The 7:00’s Report, told Market Watch. Early Tuesday, “both oil benchmarks rebounded nicely with the ‘risk on’ bid across asset classes that originated from the strong bounce back in Chinese share into the close,” he said. Brent and WTI contracts had each taken a hit Monday (WTI in electronic trading) on the news that Russia would not collaborate with OPEC, saying the cartel’s ‘golden age is over’,” said Tyler.
Meanwhile, data Monday showed that China’s exports fell 5.5% in August from the previous year, while imports plunged 13.8% in the same month from a year earlier. China’s crude-oil imports in August fell 13% year-over-year, while exports of the same month last year dropped 33%, underscoring the nation’s slowdown. But analysts said the drop was largest expected. On Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries notified Indonesia that the country may rejoin the group as a member when OPEC next meets in December. Indonesia isn’t likely to make much of a different in terms of production compared with Iran, said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. “In the short term, Indonesia will likely produce the same amount of oil whether it is a member of OPEC or not, although this could change if the country is able to attract more investment as an OPEC member,” he said. “In contrast, Iran has the capability of producing and exporting a lot more oil than it has been lately because it has been curtailed by sanctions.”
Weekly petroleum supply data will be delayed by a day because of Monday’s holiday. The Energy Information Administration will release its report on Thursday.