Cold weather in key US markets helped rally energy prices Friday in the last trading sessions for 2000 in international markets, analysts said.
The February contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes jumped 95� to $26.80/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the March position gained 68� to $25.98/bbl.
Heating oil for January delivery also was up 1.2� to 90.66�/gal, while unleaded gasoline for the same month soared 3.05� to 78.58�/gal.
The January contact for natural gas continued to climb, up 51.2� to $9.775/Mcf on the NYMEX.
Robert Morris, senior energy analyst at Salomon Smith Barney Inc., predicted Tuesday that the American Gas Association this week will probably report withdrawals of 185-200 bcf of gas from US underground storage during the week ended Friday.
That compares to withdrawals of 133 bcf during the same period in 1999 and 158 bcf in 1998, he said.
As a result, Morris said, the year-to-year storage deficit should widen to more than 680 bcf�nearly 28% below last year�just 8 weeks into the traditional withdrawal season.
US temperatures were roughly 32% lower last week than during the same period in 1999 and 25% below the 10-year average, officials said. With current forecasts showing no break in below-normal temperatures for most of the US, rapid depletion of gas storage is expected to continue.
In London, the February contract for North Sea Brent crude moved up 16� to $23.87/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, the February contract for natural gas was down 9� to the equivalent of $4.09/Mcf.
