Oil: an overview of the market situation

Crude oil futures rose during today's trading , rising above $ 109 per barrel (mark Brent) and $ 97 per barrel (mark WTI), as many investors are waiting for the announcement of the decision of the Federal Reserve's program of monetary stimulus . Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to provide details of when the U.S. central bank could begin to reduce its $ 85 billion program to buy bonds , which are based on global assets , including commodities and the U.S. dollar.

Oil prices also rose in the U.S. against the background that the data showed a decrease in oil reserves. Report from the Department of Energy on changes in stocks in the week December 9-14, showed :

- Oil reserves fell by 2.941 million barrels to 372.305 million barrels ;

- Gasoline inventories increased by 1,337 million barrels . to 220.486 million barrels . ;

- Distillate inventories fell by 2.11 million barrels . to 115.955 million barrels .

- Refining capacity utilization rate of 91.5 % against 92.6 % a week earlier .

Meanwhile, add that yesterday its data on oil presented the Institute of Oil API. They showed :

- Crude oil inventories -2.5 million barrels

- Gasoline inventories last week -0.481 million barrels

- Distillate stocks last week -0.434 million barrels

- Capacity utilization in the week 91.4% against 92.7 %

The course of trade was also influenced by the U.S. data , which showed that the volume of construction of new homes rose in November to its highest level in almost six years - is the latest sign of renewed movement in the restoration sector.

Construction of new homes in the U.S. rose by 22.7% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.091 million . The result was higher than economists forecast in 990 000 , and helped increase the average growth rate over the past three months to 951,000 . Sharp increase in construction of new homes was primarily driven by 21% growth in the construction of single-family homes , the largest and most stable segment of the market . In November, building permits, an indicator of future construction, fell slightly to the level of 1.007 million . Permits jumped 6.7% in October. The data showed that the growth rates of return to the building , which were observed at the beginning of this year, before a recovery in the sector affected by rising interest rates. Builders began construction on average 869,000 homes in the period from June to August.

Cost January futures for U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) grew by $ 0.19 - to $ 97.46 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture increased by $ 1.22 to $ 109.45 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.