“Brent futures traded near the highest closing price in two weeks on plans for a drop in North Sea crude exports to the lowest in three months and before House Republicans vote on a U.S. tax proposal.
Brent was little changed after two days of gains. Daily exports of the 12 main grades of North Sea crude for shipment in January will drop 7 percent to the lowest since October, loading programs obtained by Bloomberg News showed. Republicans in Congress will vote today on House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to raise taxes on incomes over $1 million. The proposal is aimed at preventing more than $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts from coming into effect next year.
The North Sea grade for February settlement was at $110.43 a barrel, 7 cents higher on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange as of 12:35 p.m. local time. The volume traded for all futures today was about 23 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark was at a premium of $20.35 to West Texas Intermediate, compared with $20.38 yesterday.
WTI crude for February delivery was at $90.09 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 11 cents. The volume was 35 percent less than the 100-day average. The January contract, which expired yesterday, rose $1.58 to $89.51, the highest settlement since Oct. 19.”
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