NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brent oil rose on Tuesday, turning higher after hitting a one-week low as strong bank earnings lifted markets and outweighed concerns about weak Chinese economic data.

U.S. crude outpaced Brent’s gains as part of an unwinding of the spread between the two major oil benchmarks, sending Brent’s premium to U.S. oil down to below $22.50 a barrel after it hit a record $28.10 on Friday.

NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) – On paper, it’s the kind of arbitrage deal that oil traders dream of: buy crude at $85 a barrel in Oklahoma, truck it 550 miles south, and sell it to a Gulf coast refiner for $110.

In practice, the crude trucking trade – a measure of last resort as pipelines, trains and barges are maxed out — has proved tantalizing but elusive. Just ask Robert “Bo” Collins, the former NYMEX president and hedge fund manager, or the teams at global energy trading titans Mercuria and Vitol.

NEW YORK/HOUSTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – On paper, it’s the kind
of arbitrage deal that oil traders dream of: buy crude at $85 a
barrel in Oklahoma, truck it 550 miles south, and sell it to a
Gulf coast refiner for $110.

In practice, the crude trucking trade – a measure of last
resort as pipelines, trains and barges are maxed out — has
proved tantalizing but elusive. Just ask Robert “Bo” Collins,
the former NYMEX president and hedge fund manager, or the teams
at global energy trading titans Mercuria and Vitol.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan trimmed its commodities trading risk in the third quarter while upping its risk in currencies and bonds, as heightened volatility across markets reduced the attractiveness of riskier assets like raw materials.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the first major U.S. bank to announce results for the period, reported lower third-quarter profits, including a decline in quarterly revenues in its Fixed Income Markets business, which includes commodities.

By David Sheppard

(Reuters) – Investors in crude futures and energy equities have scaled back their expectations of oil prices over the coming year, highlighting a deepening divide versus more bullish sell-side analysts on Wall Street.

A quarterly survey of 148 long-only investors, hedge fund managers and industry experts by Bernstein Research showed a majority of buy-side clients expect U.S. crude oil prices to average $90 a barrel over the next 12 months, down from $98 in the brokerage’s second-quarter survey.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brent crude jumped more than 2 percent to above $115 a barrel on Thursday after major central banks moved to boost European bank funding and diesel and heating fuels rallied.

News that major central banks around the world will cooperate in order to prevent Europe’s sovereign debt crisis from freezing up money markets was seen as a positive step toward stopping another recession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brent crude jumped more than 2 percent to more than $115 a barrel on Thursday after major central banks moved to boost European bank funding and regional leaders offered strong support for Greece.

News the European Central Bank and other central banks will reintroduce three-month dollar liquidity operations in the fourth quarter was seen as a positive step in the euro zone crisis, which has stirred concerns about fuel demand in developed economies over the past month.

By Janet McGurty and David Sheppard

(Reuters) – A leak from a shallow water crude oil pipeline in the Main Pass Area of the Gulf of Mexico has led Chevron to shut down its offshore Louisiana Main Pass pipeline network, the company said on Tuesday.

Chevron has also shut its Cypress line, the company said.

About 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production was shut in due to the pipeline leak, Chevron said. The company said late on Tuesday it will resume partial production within 24 hours.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil rose to a five-week high on Wednesday, bolstered by the slow recovery of U.S. production following Tropical Storm Lee and the threat of further disruptions due to weather systems.

Hopes that the European debt crisis may ease after Germany’s top court smoothed the way for Berlin to participate in bailout packages also gave a lift to markets.

NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene knocked out
power to 1.8 million homes and businesses, disrupted oil
refineries and forced nuclear plants to reduce power as it
barrelled toward New York City.

As the Southeast made small progress toward restoring power
as Irene spun northward, blackouts in Delaware, Maryland and
New Jersey jumped.