“West Texas Intermediate crude fell for a second day, erasing its advance this week. The U.S. benchmark’s discount to London-traded Brent neared its narrowest in more than 14 months.
Futures dropped as much 1.4 percent in New York as Cyprus said it will ask the euro area for further financial aid, while investors awaited a report forecast to show U.S. retail sales stagnated in March. Oil prices may rebound next week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. WTI’s discount to Brent shrank to as little as $10.40 a barrel today, the smallest gap on an intraday basis since Jan. 26, 2012.
“The supply balance is still a bit weak,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, who forecasts that WTI will average $96 a barrel this quarter. “We are close to the bottom, as we expect the market to tighten, but the bottoming-out process may take some time.”
WTI for May delivery declined as much as $1.26 to $92.25 a barrel in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange and was at $92.34 at 12:12 p.m. London time. The volume of all futures traded was 73 percent greater than the 100-day average. The contract has slipped 2.4 percent over the last two days, its biggest decline since April 4. Prices have fallen 0.4 percent this week, paring their gain this year to 0.5 percent.
Brent for May settlement, which expires on April 15, fell $1.29 to $102.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The more actively traded June future slid $1.41 to $102.97. The European benchmark grade was at a premium of $10.58 to WTI futures.
