By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Aug. 24 -- International energy futures prices rose Thursday, pushed by tight supplies of gasoline and agricultural diesel in the Midwest US, where harvests are pending.
The rebound, which recouped much of the previous day's losses, apparently was triggered by higher pump prices in the Midwest after Citgo Petroleum Corp. said its 158,650 b/d Lemont, Ill., refinery could be down for 6 weeks because of a fire last week (OGJ Online, Aug. 17, 2001).
Citgo, an affiliate of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), said last week it was preparing contingency plans to supply customers and would try to speed repairs of estimated $25 million damages. Nonetheless, pump prices rose more than 13¢/gal in Illinois last week.
US Department of Energy officials said they hope to remedy that situation ahead of the usual demand peak during the harvest season. However, some regional refiners have already announced plans to shut down units for maintenance in September and October.
Meanwhile, continued draw down of US inventories of oil and refined products indicates that demand is stronger nationwide than previously believed, analysts said.
The October contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 26¢ to $26.63/bbl Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The November contract also was up 25¢ to $26.60/bbl.
Unleaded gasoline for September delivery gained 0.69¢ to 78.94¢/gal, and home heating oil for the same month added 0.9¢ to 73.72¢/gal.
The September natural gas contract continued to decline, however, slipping 3.7¢ to $2.81/Mcf.
In London, the October futures contract for North Sea Brent crude was up 26¢ to $25.60/bbl in trading Thursday on the International Petroleum Exchange. But the September natural gas contract lost 2.2¢ to the equivalent of $2.57/Mcf on the IPE.
