Oil swings to loss after U.S. pipeline outage boosts volatility
BNN Bloomberg
Oil tapped a fresh one-year low, finishing a volatile trading session where supply concerns following a pipeline outage sent prices soaring.
West Texas Intermediate fell to US$71.60 in New York, the lowest since December last year, erasing earlier gains of as much as 4.8 per cent where the price briefly surpassed US$75. The Keystone oil pipeline, which can haul more than 600,000 barrels of crude daily from Canada into the U.S., was halted due to a leak, people familiar with the matter said. No timeline was given for its restart.
In a market grappling with scant participation heading into year-end, news of the outage could lead to big moves in both directions, traders said.
“Oil markets are exhausting,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “The initial oil spike following the Keystone Pipeline leak news did not last as some energy traders expect this disruption to be temporary,” he added.