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Oil prices crawled higher on Tuesday, with traders waiting to see whether major producers agree to extend their huge output cuts to shore up prices at a meeting expected later this week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded in a 38-cent range on either side of Monday's close, and last traded up 38 cents at $35.91 a barrel. Brent crude futures rose 1.09%, or 42 cents, to $38.96 a barrel. Brent has doubled over the past six weeks, thanks to supply cuts by the Organization [Read more]

U.S. natural gas futures edged up on Tuesday as power generators burned more fuel to keep air conditioners humming despite a drop in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe and Asia, where prices recently fell to record lows due to coronavirus demand destruction. Front-month gas futures rose 2.2 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.796 per million British thermal units. Data provider Refinitiv said average gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states fell to 88.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far [Read more]

Canadian heavy crude's discount narrowed versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Monday, the first day of the monthly trading cycle. Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $6.55 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than Friday's settle of $7.10 under. Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co last week said steam-driven oil sands production in April fell to 1,345 mbpd in April, down 167 [Read more]

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Trans Mountain says it has reached another "key milestone" in the project to triple capacity of a pipeline moving oil from the Edmonton area to port in Burnaby, B.C. A statement says construction on a seven-kilometre section of the line has begun in Kamloops. It says a crew of up to 50 is preparing the area, but the workforce will grow to about 600 during peak construction later this summer or early fall. The federal Crown corporation says completion of the Kamloops [Read more]

Oil prices fell nearly 1% on Monday as traders hedged bets with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) considering meeting as soon as this week to discuss whether to extend record production cuts beyond end-June. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July delivery were at $34.69 a barrel, down 49 cents. Brent crude fell 6 cents to $37.58 a barrel on the first day of trading in the contract with August as the front month. The price falls come after [Read more]

While vast cuts by producer countries and renewed fuel consumption from easing coronavirus lockdowns may soon rebalance oil supply and demand, some analysts and traders see a glut in storage keeping the market in contango for much longer. A contango market structure means the current value is lower than it will be in later months and encourages traders to store oil to resell it in the future. An especially skewed spread for oil futures or "super-contango" emerged last month, prompting [Read more]