CNBC Senior Energy Correspondent Sharon Epperson shared this report from the NYMEX.
August Brent crude futures , while down nearly 1 percent from Monday’s close, remain solidly above $115 a barrel and mirror the relative strength of the OPEC basket price.
Both Brent crude and the OPEC basket price have been firmly above the $100 a barrel mark for the past 100 days.
Barclays notes the only other time the OPEC basket price has been calculated above $100 per barrel for more than 100 days in a year was in 2008.
“With 2008 still fresh in the minds, fears of a sharp deceleration in global growth from high and fast rising prices have effectively capped the upside to prices time and time again, maintaining prices in a band that is just right in that it satisfies the key oil producers’ far higher oil price requirement to meet their far higher social expenditure and yet is not too hot for the marginal oil consumers to show any signs of discomfort,” Barclays analyst Amrita Sen says in a note to clients.
With Brent crude futures seen as a benchmark more reflective of global supply and demand, U.S. gasoline and heating oil continue to track its trajectory more than WTI futures.
Heating oil futures have gained 8.5 percent in the past 5 sessions, RBOB gasoline futures are up nearly 6 percent in the same time. Retail gasoline prices, while down near spring levels, are still up 8 cents in a week.
Today, the national average is for unleaded gasoline is $3.64 a gallon.
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