NYMEX October crude futures settled $1.85 higher at $96.47/barrel Friday, reacting to US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's highly anticipated address at the Jackson Hole symposium, where he hinted to another around of quantitative easing.
October crude traded to a session high of $96.92/b.
NYMEX September RBOB settled 2.3 cents higher at $3.1056/gal, while September heating oil settled up 4.51 cents at $3.1696/gal, on both contracts' day of expiration.
ICE October Brent settled $1.92 higher at $114.57/b.
Mike Fitzpatrick of the Kilduff Report said the much-anticipated comments from Bernanke were relatively benign, "but did seem to indicate that further [monetary easing] action from the Fed is at hand, in our view."
The text of Bernanke's speech, Fitzpatrick said, concluded with a commitment to further easing, and early on it made the case for it by citing poor economic conditions.
"September will be an interesting month will all that it holds for monetary policy and stimulus decisions from the Fed, ECB, and euro zone policymakers," Fitzpatrick said.
Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy, said although nothing new was discussed during the speech, the market is still banking on some form of stimulus in the near future.
"It really isn't anything new and crude was higher before the speech, but [the Fed] did say that they stand ready to act," he said.
A surge in equities and weakness in the US dollar provided much upside support for the crude complex, McGillian said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was more than 115 points higher and the S&P 500 Index was up nearly 10 points by the close of NYMEX open outcry.
In US economic data, The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 74.3 in August from 73.6 in July, signaling the market is positive about current and future US economic conditions, which also lent support to crude futures.
Meanwhile, offshore oil platforms in the US Gulf of Mexico are being restaffed and have begun ramping up output.
"Some of the shuttered refineries are coping with some flooding, going through their restart checklists," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective. "Those that only reduced rates are increasing throughput more quickly."
Just over 1.3 million b/d of US Gulf of Mexico crude production remained shut due Friday to Hurricane Isaac, about 94.81% of typical daily output, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said (See story, 1828 GMT).
Only minor damage to facilities is being reported from post-storm inspections, the agency said.
