By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Dec. 10 -- Energy futures prices improved Friday with the first snowfall of the season in the Northeast US, the world's largest market for home heating oil.
Arrival of close-to-normal temperatures for this time of year after earlier delays apparently put traders in a more bullish mood. Some analysts also indicated a better chance now that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries might proceed with its proposed 1.5 million b/d rollback of production quotas in January, accompanied by a 500,000 b/d cut of non-OPEC production.
The January contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes climbed 50¢ to $19.04/bbl Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The February contract was up 52¢ to $19.45/bbl. However, both contracts slipped in after-hours electronic trading back to $18.78/bbl and $19.17/bbl respectively.
Home heating oil for January delivery jumped by 1.02¢ to 51.68¢/gal. Observers of that market frequently joke that prices usually improve on days that traders have to wear their overcoats to work. Unleaded gasoline for the same month gained 0.75¢ to 52.5¢/gal. The January natural gas contract also inched up 0.3¢ to $2.57/Mcf Friday.
In London, the January position for North Sea Brent oil gained 64¢ to $19.03/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange, while the February Brent contract rose 60¢ to $19.15/bbl.
However, the January natural gas contract dropped 3.4¢ to the equivalent of $3.81/Mcf on the IPE.
The average price for OPEC's basket of seven crudes also dipped by 50¢ to $17.10/bbl Friday.
For the full week, however, that average price was up 45¢ to $17.93/bbl. So far this year, the basket price for OPEC's oil has averaged $23.47/bbl, down from $27.60/bbl for all of 2000.
