El Brent Crudo siguio subiendo, cerro en 101.74
Brent Crude Extends Rally
By DAN STRUMPF
NEW YORK—The main U.S. oil contract retreated on worries over rising supplies, while its European counterpart shot to another two-year high above $102 a barrel.
Europe's Brent crude contract rallied as antigovernment protests in Egypt reached a fever pitch. The crisis in Egypt gave Brent an edge over the U.S. contract because oil prices in the region are more closely linked to Brent.
"If there's any [oil] shortfall because of dislocation from Egypt," it is more likely to affect the Brent contract, said Andy Lebow, an oil analyst at MF Global.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery settled down $1.42, or 1.5%, at $90.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled up 73 cents, or 0.7%, at $101.74 a barrel. The contract hit an intraday high of $102.08 a barrel, the highest trade since Sept. 29, 2008.
Worries persisted that disruptions at the Suez Canal, a key energy transit point, could lead to delays or bottlenecks in oil deliveries. In addition, Jordan's King Abdullah announced the dismissal of the country's government, raising fresh worries that the unrest that has shaken the government of Egypt—which is not a major oil producer—over the last week would spread to other countries.
Liam Denning from Heard on the Street explains why the prices of two widely traded crude contracts have been diverging of late.
.Still, reports Tuesday indicated the Suez Canal and the nearby Sumed pipeline, which transport large volumes of crude and refined products from the Middle East to Europe, were operating normally. Several analysts pointed out that shippers could easily reroute supplies around southern Africa if oil flows through the Suez were disrupted.
Meanwhile, worries about high inventories at the Nymex delivery point of Cushing, Okla., weighed on the price of Nymex crude. High stockpiles at the Oklahoma oil town have kept the price of the Nymex contract relatively restrained, even as Brent crude has raced past $100 a barrel. The Department of Energy is scheduled to report U.S. oil and fuel inventory levels Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, and analysts widely expect an increase in crude-oil stockpiles.
"We've seen refineries cut back on utilization and that crude will, in fact, end up in Cushing for the most part," said Peter Beutel, head of the oil trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover.
U.S. crude stocks are expected to rise 2.6 million barrels during the week ended Friday, according to a poll of analysts by Dow Jones Newswires. Gasoline stocks are seen rising 1.8 million barrels, while distillates, including heating oil and diesel, are expected to fall 1.1 million barrels. Refinery utilization is seen falling 0.3 percentage point to 81.5% of capacity.
Brent's rally sent its premium to WTI to as high as $11 a barrel Tuesday, up nearly $3 a barrel. Brent has sped ahead of WTI in recent weeks due to high inventories at Cushing, although the premium had narrowed somewhat in recent days.
Front-month March reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, rose 1.93 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $2.5194 a gallon. March heating oil rose 1.67 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.7570 a gallon.
Write to Dan Strumpf at
dan.strumpf@dowjones.com