By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, May 9 -- Energy futures prices continued to decline Tuesday, with traders mistakenly anticipating a bigger buildup of US gasoline inventories.
However, the American Petroleum Institute report, issued after the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, showed a smaller-than-expected increase in US gasoline stocks, up 1.1 million bbl to 199.9 million bbl total.
The API also reported crude stocks declined only 271,000 bbl to 321.7 million bbl last week, far less than the drawdown of more than 1 million bbl that many traders had expected. That compares with inventories of 307.1 million bbl during the same period a year ago.
Distillate stocks, including home heating oil and diesel fuel, also registered a surprising drop of more than 1 million bbl to a total 104.7 million bbl.
The June contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes lost 38¢ to $27.39/bbl during Tuesday's regular trading session on New York Mercantile Exchange, while the July contract was down 17¢ to $28.27/bbl. However, both contracts rebounded in after-hours electronic trading to $27.62/bbl and $28.61/bbl respectively, reflecting the bullish API report.
Unleaded gasoline for June delivery lost 1.72¢ to $1.0444/gal on the NYMEX, while home heating oil for the same month inched up 0.17¢ to 74.89¢/gal. The June natural gas contract gained 4¢ to $4.28/Mcf.
In London, the June contract for North Sea Brent crude closed Tuesday at $27.90/bbl, down 29¢ for the day, after trading in a range of $27.60-$28.05/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. That market was closed Monday for a public holiday.
London brokers said the contract slid below $28/bbl partly as a result of profit taking by traders and partly because of declining interest among buyers.
The June natural gas contract also lost 12¢ to the equivalent of $3.23/Mcf Tuesday on the IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven crudes declined by 35¢ to $25.33/bbl Tuesday.
