Nymex Overview: Petroleum Futures Slide Again, U.S. Crude Oil at a Nearly Five-Year Low — OPIS

Crude oil and refined product futures contracts were again trading lower late Tuesday morning and U.S. crude oil contracts slipped below $55/bbl for the first time in nearly five years.

Petroleum futures remain under pressure from continued oversupply fears and the possibility of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Tuesday's declines also come after a federal jobs report released Tuesday morning sparked concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.

U.S. oil prices were down nearly 3% at about 11 a.m. ET, with NYMEX January West Texas Intermediate contract down $1.58 to $55.24/bbl after falling as low as $54.98/bbl earlier in the session. That was the lowest a front-month WTI contract has traded since early February 2021. February WTI was off $1.54 to $55.09/bbl. WTI prices have tumbled about 5.5% in the past week.

The ICE February Brent crude contract was trading $1.68 lower at $58.88/bbl, 16cts above morning lows. The March Brent contract was down $1.61 $58.69/bbl.

Gasoline contracts are on track for a seventh-straight day of declines, with the NYMEX January RBOB contract off 5cts to $1.6823/gal. The February RBOB contract was 4.96cts lower at $1.6871/gal. ULSD contracts were seeing similar losses, with the front-month contract trading down 5.25cts to $2.1281/gal. The February contract was also off 5.25cts to $2.1206/gal.

Negotiations to end the fighting between Russia and Ukraine continue to loom large over markets, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicating that negotiations between U.S. and Ukrainian officials could soon lead to a peace offer to Russia. An end to the fighting could result in an easing of international sanctions against Russian energy exports.

Energy futures are also being pressured by release of delayed employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed the U.S. unemployment rate rose to its highest level in four years. The numbers are raising concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy and energy demand in coming months.

Markets are also awaiting the Wednesday release of the latest weekly inventory and demand data from the Energy Information Administration. With U.S. refineries operating at high rates and fuel demand likely seeing typical winter weakness, market sources are expecting the agency to report builds in refined product inventories for the week ended Friday.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Reporting by Steven Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeffrey Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 16, 2025 12:37 ET (17:37 GMT)