The world's two leading crude oil benchmarks, Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI), posted their steepest weekly declines in months during the week ended June 26 as traders continued to strip out much of the geopolitical risk premium that had supported prices throughout June. Meanwhile, the Brent-WTI spread plummeted to sub-$3/bbl levels.
In 2015 Alaskan crude has enjoyed something of a change in fortunes compared to the past few years – when shale production seemed to threaten its future. Production was up by over 50 Mb/d in the first 4 months of 2015 (according to the Energy Information Administration – EIA). The market share of Alaskan crude in West Coast refineries also crept up by 1% this year compared to 2014 at a time when crude throughput at those refineries increased. Today we discuss the changes and whether they are likely to continue.
