Oil Prices Ease

 Econintersect:  It is not much of a change but the data displayed by Bloomberg shows an easing of oil prices Thursday, March 3.  The price of oil has surged in the past few weeks due to unrest in the middle east and North Africa.  In the case of the strife in Libya oil production has actally been interefered with.  However, the bulk of the pressure on oil prices has been due to the fear of unrest spill over disrupting production in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states.Thursday’s data from Bloomberg at 1600:

• WTI Cushing Spot      $101.91    -0.3%
• Dated Brent Crude      $114.46   -1.3%
• NYMEX Crude Future $101.82  -0.4%

The premium of Brent to WTI continued to shrink, today reaching $12.55.  This covered by GEI News yesterday, as the premium from the Tuesday level ($16.50) plummetted by nearly $3.  Today another $1 was wrung out of the premium.

Sources:  Bloomberg and GEI News