- According to Bloomberg, Brent for February settlement slipped 79 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $59.45 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, down 3.1 percent this week.
- The volume of all futures was 84 percent below the 100-day average as of 3:10 p.m., with much of Europe on holiday after Christmas
- West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery fell $1.11, or 2 percent, to $54.73 on the New York Mercantile Exchange with volume 68 percent below average. Prices were down 3.2 percent this week. Trading reached 174,562 contracts at 2:49 p.m.
- The previous lowest volume this year was 244,240 on Aug. 25. Brent traded at a premium of $4.72 to WTI on the ICE.
- The Minister of Finance in her 2015 Budget put its Oil benchmark price at $65 which is now $6 off the current retain price
- Nigerian budget is benchmarked against the Bonny light which typically trades at about $3 higher than the Brent
- Even at that, our budget benchmark is still higher than current market price going into the new year.
- It is unlikely that the budget will pass at the price if Crude price continues to trend downwards.
