Oil trades below USD 53 as US crude stockpiles gain, dollar drops

Published: Feb 03, 2017 10:20 (GMT+8)

Save

Oil traded below USD 53/bbl in New York.

By Polymers

ScrapMonster Contributor

SEATTLE (polymers.in): Mexico’s Growth Slows as Oil Output Drop Outweighs Services
- Gross domestic product rose 0.6% from the previous three months.
- Mexico’s central bank is expected to raise its key interest rate a half point to 6.25% next week.

Trump’s Latest Executive Orders May Be Burdensome for Oil
- A separate order that would impose a border tariff on Mexican goods may hurt refineries that use imported crude.
- On Monday, energy companies led declines in the S&P 500 Index.

Oil Trades Below USD 53 as US Crude Stockpiles Gain, Dollar Drops
- Oil traded below USD 53/bbl in New York.
- US crude inventories rose 5.83 million bbl.
- WTI for March delivery rose 18 cents or 0.3% to close at USD 52.81/bbl.
- Brent for March settlement climbed 47 cents to USD 55.70/bbl.

Oil Revenue Surge Seen Cutting Kuwait Deficit: Investors’ Guide
- Kuwait expects oil revenue to surge more than 30% in the fiscal year that starts in April.
- 2017/18 budget based on oil price of USD 45/bbl.
- The budget deficit is seen at 7.9 billion dinars in 2017/18.

Feedstock (Ethane, Ethylene, Propane, Propylene, PX, PTA, MEG, EDC, VCM)
Ethylene expected to tighten, prices to strengthen amid expansion in US polyethylene capacities
- Dow Chemical is expecting ethylene supply to tighten and pricing to strengthen as US PE expansions come online in 2017.
- Almost an additional 4.2 million tea of North American PE capacity could be realized in 2017 should planned projects by several producers hit their respective target dates.

Turkish Dec PX imports almost halve on month to 11,476 MT, up 5% on year
- Turkish imports of PX saw a sharp decrease in December to 11,476 MT.
- December inflows were up over 5% from the 10,891 MT recorded a year ago.

Northeast Asia ethylene hits 10-month high
- Two deals were concluded at USD 1230/MT CFR NE Asia for cargoes to be delivered in the second half of February, versus offers at USD 1250/MT CFR NE Asia.
- China’s Fund Energy continued to operate its new MTO plant with a 70 - 80% of capacity since the week ended 13 January.

Polymers Price
US Jan PP jumps 10 cents/lb. following feedstock PGP
- US PP contracts on Friday followed the feedstock again and settled up 10 cents/lb.
- Spot PGP traded in range averaging 40 cents/lb. in January, but February spot has traded as high as 51.75 cents/lb. in a railcar deal this week.

Polymers Demand
Dow sees ethylene/PE cycle plateau - not trough
- US based Dow Chemical sees the PE cycle flattening out in the coming years instead of falling into a deeper downturn.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io

Oil prices

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

Sep 25, 2026 16:02 (GMT+8)

Tanzania’s Imwelo selects processing route after gold recovery rises to 84.5%

[SMM Gold Flash] Lake Victoria Gold reported new metallurgical testwork for weathered ore at Area C of its fully permitted Imwelo Gold Project in Tanzania. Attrition scrubbing followed by desliming increased 24-hour gold extraction from 49.99% to 84.54% in agitated-leach testing. Bottle-roll recovery reached 88.15% after pretreatment, while gravity-recoverable gold also increased. The work was conducted by Nesch Mintech Tanzania in Mwanza. The company has identified attrition scrubbing and desliming as the preferred pretreatment route for further optimisation of the clay-rich near-surface material. Lake Victoria Gold says the results complement earlier work on deeper material, where recoveries of approximately 96–97% were reported. Importantly, the reported recoveries relate to tested pretreated fractions and do not yet represent overall whole-ore plant recovery; further mass-balance and optimisation work is planned.

Sep 25, 2026 16:02 (GMT+8)

Sep 25, 2026 15:58 (GMT+8)

Aurum drilling delivers 155 g/t gold hit at Côte d’Ivoire’s Boundiali

[SMM Gold Flash] Aurum Resources reported new assay results from 22 diamond holes totalling 6,172.8 metres at the BST1 deposit at its Boundiali Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire. The results include 2.63 metres at 76.74 g/t gold from 195.2 metres, including 1.3 metres at 155 g/t, together with 24 metres at 6.31 g/t from 108 metres, including 7 metres at 19.25 g/t. Several intersections extend beyond the existing BST1 resource envelope. The results will feed into Aurum’s planned Boundiali Mineral Resource update targeted for early Q4 2026. The company says mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth, while drilling continues across the project. The results are therefore an exploration and resource-growth development rather than additional production. Boundiali currently has a 3.22-million-ounce JORC Mineral Resource, while Aurum is advancing a definitive feasibility study.

Sep 25, 2026 15:58 (GMT+8)

Sep 25, 2026 15:52 (GMT+8)

Platinum Shows Stronger Inflation and Real-Rate Linkages Than Gold, Study Finds

[SMM Gold & PGM Flash] A new study published in the Journal of Commodity Markets finds that platinum has exhibited broader and more persistent co-movement with inflation and real interest rates than gold. Researchers Arusha Cooray and İbrahim Özmen examined monthly data from July 1999 through December 2024 across the US, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, using turning-point analysis, wavelet coherence and time-varying Granger-causality methods. The study found gold’s macroeconomic relationships were comparatively weaker and more fragmented, while platinum and silver showed broader synchronization, particularly in the US and Germany. The researchers attribute platinum’s stronger macroeconomic sensitivity in part to its substantial industrial exposure, meaning its price reflects not only monetary conditions but also manufacturing activity, investment and supply constraints. The findings do not establish platinum as a universally superior inflation hedge: the relationships varied across countries, periods and monetary-policy regimes. Instead, the study highlights a fundamental difference between the metals, with gold’s broader monetary and defensive role producing a different response to inflation and real-rate conditions.

Sep 25, 2026 15:52 (GMT+8)