By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--U.S. oil futures gained Friday on expectations of
continued high demand, while global benchmark Brent held flat,
bringing the price gap between the two contracts to the lowest
point since July.
Light, sweet crude oil futures for November delivery settled up
$1.01, or 1.1%, at $93.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Prices gained 2.1% for the week.
The global Brent contract settled unchanged at $97 a barrel on
the ICE Futures Europe exchange, posting a 1.4% loss for the
week.
The U.S. contract, West Texas Intermediate, outperformed Brent
this week as domestic stockpiles unexpectedly fell amid continued
high refinery utilization. Brent remained under pressure on
concerns about ample global supplies.
WTI prices are likely to hold between $90 and $95 a barrel
heading into October because of high refinery run rates and low
inventories at the Nymex physical delivery point in Oklahoma, said
Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch
& Associates in a note.
"Meanwhile," he said, "the Brent market continues to bear the
brunt of a slowing in growth rates of major economic regions."
The price gap between the two contracts settled at $3.46 a
barrel.
The Commerce Department said Friday that U.S. gross domestic
product expanded at an annual rate of 4.6% in the second quarter,
above its previous estimate of 4.2%.
"You have crude and the stock market really focusing on the
growth in the U.S. right now," said Carl Larry, analyst at Oil
Outlooks & Opinions.
Gasoline futures sold off Friday after rallying Thursday on
concerns about a short-term supply shortage on the East Coast.
The gasoline "crack spread," a rough indication of how much
profit a refinery can make from processing WTI into gasoline, fell
to the lowest level since November 2013.
"Gasoline margins are getting worse, and that's not great for
forward-looking crude fundamentals," said Anthony Lerner, senior
vice president of industrial commodities at brokerage R.J. O'Brien
in New York.
October gasoline futures fell 5.61 cents, or 2.1%, to $2.6619 a
gallon. Prices rose 1.9% this week.
October diesel rose 0.47 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.7005 a gallon.
Futures fell 0.6% this week.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
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