By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Nov. 14 -- Energy futures prices rebounded Tuesday in anticipation of an imminent agreement among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production quotas by 1.5 million b/d.
The December contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes gained 44¢ to $21.67/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the January contract was up 36¢ to $21.89/bbl. Both contracts retreated to $21.35/bbl and $21.60/bbl, respectively, in after-hours electronic trading following a report by the American Petroleum Institute that US oil inventories increased by 1.1 million bbl last week.
API reported Wednesday, however, that total US petroleum deliveries declined during October for the third consecutive month, down 1.7% from year-ago levels.
The biggest decline in both volume and percentage was for residual fuel oil, down 25% from last year, said API officials. They said that was caused by utilities and industrial users switching back to natural gas following a switch to resid last year when gas prices were soaring.
Kerosine jet fuel deliveries also marked its first double-digit decline in more than 10 years, down 12% with the drop in air traffic after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. API analysts said continued weak demand for petrochemical feedstocks also contributed to October's weak petroleum deliveries.
However, gasoline deliveries rose in October, averaging 1.3% higher than a year ago for the past 2 months. Distillate fuel oil deliveries registered an October gain of 2.6%.
Home heating oil for December delivery gained 0.83¢ to 60.93¢/gal Tuesday on the NYMEX. Unleaded gasoline for the same month also increased 0.44¢ to 58.01¢/gal. The December natural gas contract moved up 6.5¢ to $2.80/Mcf.
In London, the December contract for North Sea Brent crude rose 42¢ to $20.81/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. The December natural gas contract dropped 7.8¢ to the equivalent of $3.46/Mcf on the IPE.
The average price for OPEC's basket of seven crudes gained 12¢ to $19.23/bbl Tuesday.
