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Even more price records, new refineries and a technical hitch at the IPE
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
oil and energy trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1744-7992
pISSN - 0950-1045
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7992.2005.300506.x
Subject(s) - brent crude , barrel (horology) , oil refinery , crude oil , refinery , stock (firearms) , economic shortage , cartel , agricultural economics , west texas intermediate , downstream (manufacturing) , oil price , economics , business , operations management , government (linguistics) , geography , engineering , monetary economics , market economy , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , petroleum engineering , incentive , waste management
This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'. In a final burst before retreating, oil prices once again entered record territory. WTI went to $58.28 a barrel, while Brent shot up to $57.65. In Asia, meanwhile, Malaysia's benchmark Tapis grade climbed above $61.00. The scramble to buy crude oil finally began to show up in stock levels, however, and US inventory figures showing an 8% year‐on‐year rise at the start of April suggested that fears of a crude oil shortage were overplayed. Prices fell sharply leaving Brent and WTI just above $51.00 a barrel. An announcement by OPEC's president, Ahmad Fahad Al Sabah, that the cartel would produce an additional 500,000 bpd in May helped to relax fears further. Product prices remained relatively more robust on a combination of high demand in the US and Asia and unscheduled refinery maintenance in the US.