OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2010. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose USD 2.20 to settle at USD 76.45/bbl, after Enbridge said pipeline 6A remained shut as the cleanup of an oil leak continued near Romeoville, Illinois. London Brent crude was up just 49 cents/bbl at USD 79.96, with concerns about the strength of global demand still weighing.

US crude rose Friday following the shutdown of a 670,000 bpd pipeline supplying Canadian oil to the United States, but a leading forecaster said global demand would remain tepid. The leak occurred at Romeoville, which is 48 km southwest of Chicago. In this case, the pipeline will not only need to be repaired but regulatory approval will apparently also be required before shipments on the line can resume. Canada is the largest oil exporter to the US, and Enbridge's pipelines carry most of that crude. The line accounts for 7-8% of total US crude imports. Canada shipped 1.75 mn bpd to the United States in the week to September 3, making it by far the largest foreign supplier. Saudi Arabia, the No. 2 supplier, shipped 1.16 mn bpd to US markets last week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said global oil consumption growth was expected to increase a little this year but slip in 2011 and that fuel consumption could be much weaker if the global economy decelerates. The agency said global oil supply was more than sufficient to meet demand, highlighting high levels of industry stocks across the developed world.

Prices also moved higher after Chinese figures showed that net imports of crude oil climbed by 10% in August from the previous month. China’s net crude purchases rose to 20.65 mn metric tons, or 5 mn bpd, from 18.8 mn in July, according to preliminary data released today by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs. Net imports of oil products doubled to 490,000 tons. Thus, this news out of China once again points to the one bright spot in this market, growing Asian demand.

Moving forward, we think the Enbridge pipeline shutdown could help ease the rising glut at Cushing, Oklahoma, which is chiefly supplied with Canadian oil. Right now it is hard to say when the leak will be fixed, which means we could start seeing bigger drawdowns at Cushing.