NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) – As 2012 winds down, traders’
thoughts turn to next year. For many, betting that the yawning
price gap between Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil
will narrow, a trade that went horribly wrong this year, looks
too tempting to pass up.

Even those badly burned by past spread trades are salivating
at the opportunity, as the prospect of outsized returns from a
narrowing some time in 2013 is hard to pass up.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Logistical problems caused by power failures and navigational hazards from storm Sandy continued to roil New York Harbor on Thursday, threatening widespread delays in fuel deliveries off the New York Mercantile Exchange’s futures contracts.

With many New York and New Jersey gasoline stations running dry or without power, oil companies are scrambling to resupply their networks but cannot gain access to millions of barrels of fuel trapped in the region’s terminals. A diesel fuel spill after the storm added to the woes, keeping a key waterway shut.

NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Huge logistical problems from
power failures and navigational hazards roiled the massive New
York Harbor oil hub in the wake of Hurricane Sandy on Thursday,
threatening widespread delays in fuel deliveries off the New
York Mercantile Exchange’s futures contracts.

With regional gasoline stations running dry, oil companies
are scrambling to resupply their networks but cannot gain access
to millions of barrels of fuel trapped in regional terminals.

NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) – For all the hoopla surrounding
the shale revolution in oil and gas markets, it is worth bearing
in mind that the technology is still in its infancy.

It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the speed of the
transformation hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is bringing to
global oil and gas markets.

NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Russia’s decade of investment
in new oil export capacity is turning the table on inland
European refineries. Where once they were privileged customers
at the end of a dedicated export pipeline they are now fighting
at a disadvantage for crude.

The situation in the Czech Republic is an excellent example.
Local oil refiner Ceska Rafinerska
has been forced to shut down its Kralupy plant due to a
lack of crude oil.

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Rosneft will eclipse
the Western supermajors in crude output once the Russian
state-controlled oil producer takes over rival TNK-BP, but
despite its size, the company will still be relative minnow in
energy trading.

That is because Rosneft, like most of its Russian peers, has
outsourced the marketing of its crude and refined products to
foreign companies.

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) – For years the energy story out
of Canada has been exclusively about the emergence of Alberta’s
oil sands as a massive, if costly new source of crude.

Indeed, the rise of the oil sands was always seen as a happy
solution to the country’s dwindling conventional oil production
and the crumbling economics of Alberta’s natural gas industry.

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Get ready for a lot more
volatility in gasoline and diesel prices. Low inventories and
lots of open interest in the futures contracts portend further
short squeezes, particularly if autumn refinery maintenance
tightens supplies further.

This week’s massacre of shorts on the RBOB gasoline futures
contract is only a warning. A repeat of the situation in
gasoline next month cannot be ruled out. And the scene is being
set for brutal squeezes on distillate fuel.

NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) – The proliferation of railway
facilities to move Bakken crude oil to coastal markets was
supposed to save less competitive plants on the East Coast, but
new rail links are also eroding the price benefit from
transporting the crude from North Dakota.

Two saviors of U.S. East Coast refineries this summer
promised to expand their access to cheap inland North American
crude to make the money-losing plants profitable again.

NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) – Crude oil has shown great
resilience in the face of unsupportive data over the last month,
bolstered by traders’ optimism that central banks will prime the
economic pump yet again by printing more money.

Even traders who acknowledge that sentiment may have lifted
crude temporarily out of alignment with fundamentals say they
have to keep buying. Momentum can be friendly, after all.