December Crude Oil closed up 0.46 at 54.76. This was 0.77 up from the low and 0.08 off the high.

December Heating Oil closed down 0.34 at 185.91. This was 2.11 up from the low and 0.82 off the high.

December RBOB Gasoline finished up 4.54 at 178.64, 0.10 off the high and 5.24 up from the low.

December Natural Gas finished up 0.05 at 2.94, 0.02 off the high and 0.06 up from the low.

 

While the crude oil market did manage to waffle around both sides of unchanged today, it did favor the lower half of the prior session’s range and the lower portion of the last three days consolidation zone in a fashion that would seem
to favor the bear camp. Reports that Japanese imports might be lower and a Saudi Arabian December rate hike to Asian customers probably cast doubt on the market’s assumption that Asian demand will continue to expand straightaway. An issue that should underpin energy prices going forward is word that Russian crude oil production last month declined by roughly 315,000 barrels per day as that would suggest the OPEC/non OPEC alliance efforts to restrain production remain in place. The weekly natural gas storage report showed an injection of 65 bcf. Total torage
stands at 3775 bcf or 1.1% below the 5 year average. Over the last four weeks natural gas storage has increased 267 bcf.