KATADATA - After the increase for the last two months, Indonesia Crude Price (ICP), which is crude oil benchmark price for Indonesia, is declining again to touch its lowest level last month. The ICP team recorded that the price in November 2015 was at US$ 41.4 per barrel, which declined by US$ 2.24 per barrel compared to the previous month.
The fall of ICP last month was in sync with the plunging global oil price. WTI oil in New York Stock Exchange has declined by US$ 3.37 per barrel, and Brent Oil, which is the benchmark price that Indonesia currently uses to set the domestic price, has declined by US$ 3.36 per barrel.
The plunging global oil price still occurs until now due to the increase in supply, while the demand of oil remain low. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has stated that the crude oil production in the United States has averagely increased by 57,000 barrels per day (bpd). The increase in the crude oil production has also increase the productions of its derivations such as gasoline and distillates, which has increased 1.4 million and 600,000 barrels, respectively.
Another factor is the strengthening, or appreciation, of US Dollar Index (DXY), which has made the US currency to strengthen by 3.19 points compared to October 2015 to become 100.21 points. This has triggered the Russian government to give discounts to the Urals crude oil buyers as an attempt to keep its market in Europe at bay, as explained by an expert in the ICP team in the Energy Ministry on Thursday, December 3.
And as for Asia Pacific, the plunging oil price may also be affected by the decline in the utilization of the Taiwanese refineries by 16.7 percent. Moreover, the oil consumption for power plants in Japan has also declined by 4 percent. The demand of oil has also declined in China.
Dapatkan pengalaman membaca lebih nyaman dan nikmati fitur menarik lainnya lewat aplikasi mobile Katadata.
