Crude futures rise after latest Nigeria attack, US stocks data

London (Platts)--7Dec2006

Global crude futures were stronger Thursday as the market consumed the
US inventory data published Wednesday and monitored the latest attack on an
oil installation in Nigeria.
At 1135 GMT the January ICE Brent futures contract traded at
$63.33/barrel up 26 cents from the overnight settle. The NYMEX and ICE January
WTI futures contracts were both stronger by 22 cents at $62.41/barrel.
"The Nigerian attack has definitely had an effect but all the details
aren't clear yet," a London-based broker said.
Three Italians workers were kidnapped early Thursday when gunmen attacked
Eni's Brass crude oil export terminal in the Niger Delta but loadings have so
far been unaffected, a spokeswoman for Eni said Thursday.
Nigerian Agip, a subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni, last month was
forced to declare force majeure on the 50,000 b/d offshore Okono terminal
after militants kidnapped workers from the production vessel.
The company has also yet to restore 50,000 b/d from the Tebidaba flow
station in Bayelsa state.
Armed militants and villagers in early November invaded the Tebidaba flow
station, which pumps crude to the Brass terminal, and took 50 workers hostage
in a dispute over compensation for oil spills. All of the workers were later
released unharmed or managed to escape.
The Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas
resources, has seen a resurgence in violence since the beginning of the year,
with armed groups stepping up attacks on oil installations and personnel.
On Wednesday, the US Energy Information Administration said that there
was a draw in total US crude commercial stocks of 1.1 million barrels.
However, when broken down the draw was mainly based in the US West Coast
region of 4.4 million barrels. If this was taken out of the equation then
there is a hike in commercial crude stocks of 3.3 million barrels.
Traders are less inclined to focus on the USWC as the region is isolated
from most of the US refinery complex and the NYMEX crude delivery point is in
Cushing, Oklahoma. Analysts had been projecting a 500,000 barrel build in
overall US crude stocks.
On the product futures, December ICE gasoil was down $1.00/mt to
$552.50/mt, whilst NYMEX January heating oil on NYMEX was up 0.1 cents to
$1.7950/gallon. The US EIA said there was a 1.5 million barrel draw in heating
oil stocks last week and a 400,000 barrel draw in distillates overall.
The NYMEX January RBOB futures traded at $1.6260/gallon, up by 0.47
cents. The EIA said there was a 1.1 million barrel draw in gasoline
stocks.
--Jean-Luc Amos, jean-luc_amos@platts.com

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