US crude oil futures fell last Friday, ending May with the worst monthly decline since December 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, as a downgrade of Spain’s credit rating sparked further Euro zone worries and prompted oil traders to seek less risky assets. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, July crude settled down 58 cents, or 0.78 percent, at US$73.97 a barrel, after trading from US$73.13 to US$75.72. Front-month crude futures fell US$12.18, or 14.1 percent, from April, their biggest monthly percentage loss since December 2008, when prices fell 18.1 percent from the previous month. Â
US crude oil imports in March fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier to 9.292mn barrels per day, the US Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. March imports were down 149,000 bpd from 9.441mn bpd a year earlier. Oil shipments from Saudi Arabia topped 1 million bpd for the first time since last September, reaching 1.149mn bpd in March. It was the highest level for Saudi imports since January 2009.
US spot natural gas prices for June 1 moved higher on Friday for a fourth day, backed by steady storage buying and warm weather forecasts through midweek next week, which should mean more cooling demand, despite ongoing concerns about rising supplies. Gas for June 1 delivery at Henry Hub, a key supply point in Louisiana, climbed 9 cents to US$4.31 per million British thermal units, but late morning deals slipped slightly to about flat with NYMEX from a 3-cent premium on Thursday. The current Hub average is above the May monthly index of US$4.27 and the year-ago price of US$3.49, but well below the US$11.85 mean on the same day in 2008.
