The price for light, sweet crude oil for October delivery settled modestly higher on the New York market to remain above $46/bbl on Sept. 3 before the Labor Day holiday in the US.
Oil prices were dropping in early trading on Sept. 4 in what was expected to be a light trading day, analysts said. Many traders are away from their desks because of the 3-day holiday weekend. US markets will be closed Sept. 7.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman was scheduled to visit the White House Sept. 4. He was expected to discuss the proposed Iran nuclear deal as well as conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
Regarding natural gas, the US Energy Information Administration estimated gas in underground storage across the Lower 48 at 3.193 tcf as of Aug. 28. This represented a net increase of 94 bcf from the previous week.
Stocks were 495 bcf higher than last year at this time and 122 bcf above the 5-year average of 3.071 tcf, the Gas Storage Report showed.
Energy prices
The October crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 50¢ to $46.75/bbl on Sept. 3 while the November crude oil contract climbed 46¢ to $47.32/bbl.
The natural gas contract for October added 77¢ to a rounded $2.73/MMbtu. The Henry Hub, La., gas price dropped 4¢ to $2.67/MMbtu.
Heating oil for October delivery gained less than a penny to a rounded $1.62/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending for October was up by about 1¢ to a rounded $1.44/gal.
The October ICE contract for Brent crude climbed 18¢ to $50.68/bbl, and the November contract gained 24¢ to $51.53/bbl. The ICE gas oil contract for September added $23.75 to $495.25/tonne.
The average price for the OPEC basket of 12 benchmark crudes increased $1.84 to $47.37/bbl on Sept. 3.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
*Paula Dittrick is editor of OGJ’s Unconventional Oil & Gas Report.
