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Oil Prices

Published 13 July 10

Oil Prices

• The oil price for June stood at $72.95/barrel, $1.53/barrel (2.1%) lower when compared with the previous month.
• In Sterling terms, the oil price stood at £49.50/barrel in June, £2.89/barrel (2.3%) lower than in May.
• The value of Sreling held against the US$ during June, increasing by only 0.24%.

Monthly Price

Latest provisional figures from OPEC show that the price of oil stood at $72.95/barrel in June, 2.1% ($1.53/barrel) lower when compared with the price in May.  Annual comparisons show that the price has increased by $4.59/barrel (6.7%) from $68.36/barrel in June 2009.

In Sterling terms, the June price of £49.50/barrel was £1.16/barrel (2.3%) down on the previous month.  Comparing prices to the previous year shows that the June price is £7.73/barrel (18.5%) more than the avaerage price achieved in June 2009.

A recent mid-year report from OPEC suggests that there is still uncertainty with regards to where Oil prices will head for the rest of the year.  Although prices moved up in April as confidence about a global recovery increased, concern over the debt crisis in the Eurozone has checked this. In addition, the supply of oil is fairly plentiful, particularly for petrol where stocks in the OECD are 5% above the 5-year average.

The OPEC supply situation is due to be reviewed at the next meeting scheduled for 14 October 2010.

For more up-to-date information, click here to access the OPEC website.

Source: OPEC

Annual Price

In 2009 the average price of oil stood at $61.06/barrel, a fall of 35.4% compared to 2008. The slowdown in the global economy has had much to do with this as prices fell dramatically towards the end of 2008 and remained at low levels at the beginning of 2009. Daily prices in 2009 ranged between $38.10/barrel (seen on 18/02/09) and $77.88/barrel (seen on 01/12/09). Despite prices rising in the latter part of 2009, the average annual price still remains lower than the previous three years.

In the last ten years prices have more than tripled increasing from $17.48/barrel in 1999 to $61.06/barrel in 2009.

Source: OPEC

The new OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), implemented from 16 June 2005, is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and BCF 17 (Venezuela).

Up to December 2005: Monthly & Yearly averages were based on weekly quotations.

As of January 2006: Monthly & Yearly averages are based on daily quotations.

As of January 2006: The Basket Price is subject to revision.