By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Feb. 5 -- Energy futures prices weakened in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.
The March contract for light, sweet crude fell 31¢ to close at $20.07/bbl, while the April contract stood at $20.36, down 27¢. In after-hours electronic access trading, the March contract was fetching $19.91/bbl, while the April contract stood at $20.22, both down from the NYMEX close.
Refined petroleum products also closed lower, with March home heating oil losing 1.5¢ to rest at 53.81¢/gal, while unleaded gasoline for the same month gave back 1.03¢ to rest at 59.31¢/gal.
NYMEX gas for March delivery slipped 2.1¢ to end at $2.12/Mcf.
The market gave back gains of the previous session made in the light of concerns about exports from Kuwait because of an explosion at a major gathering facility.
The country's Oil Minister Adel Al-Subih informed the parliament that crude in storage would be enough to keep the oil exports going at present level for the next 20 days or so.
It is expected that before this 6 million bbl of oil in storage is used up, the repairs to the facility would be complete.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Sec. Gen. Alí Rodríguez Araque also helped bearish sentiment by indicating at the World Economic Forum meeting in New York that the organization would most probably keep its quota at its present level when the ministers meet in March.
Meanwhile in London, Brent crude oil futures settled slightly lower but in the same price range as that seen over the past several days.
Brokers said news that an explosion and fire at a Kuwaiti processing center would not affect Kuwait's oil exports encouraged selling today. However, prices had not strengthened significantly on initial news of the Kuwaiti explosion.
Futures remain fairly stable just below $20/bbl. There is strong resistance at $20, and skepticism that fundamentals justify prices higher than current levels.
March Brent settled at $19.81/bbl, down 17¢ from the previous close. The day's high was $19.92 and the low was $19.60.
The March natural gas contract fell 5¢ to close at the equivalent of $2.85/Mcf.
The OPEC basket of seven crudes stood at $18.70/bbl Monday, compared with $18.99 the previous Friday.
