MARKET WATCHOil, gasoline prices rise in New York upon reports of Louisiana refinery problems

Oct. 24, 2003
Oil and gasoline prices rose Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange upon reports ConocoPhillips shut a fluid catalytic cracking unit for unscheduled maintenance at its 295,000 b/d Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, La.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Oct. 24 -- Oil and gasoline prices rose Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange upon reports ConocoPhillips shut a fluid catalytic cracking unit for unscheduled maintenance at its 295,000 b/d Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, La.

Dow Jones Newswires cited trading sources as saying that repairs could take 3 weeks. No immediate comment was available from the company.

Meanwhile, weather forecasts for below-normal temperatures in the US Northeast supported heating oil prices, which rose modestly. Meanwhile, the OPEC basket of crude price stayed above OPEC's $22-$28/bbl band for the eleventh consecutive day Thursday.

Natural gas prices dropped slightly after fluctuating all week. The US Energy Information Administration Thursday said working gas in storage as of Oct. 17 rose above the 3 tcf.

"Working gas in storage was 3,028 bcf. . . . Stocks were 144 bcf less than last year at this time and 25 bcf above the 5-year average of 3,003 bcf," the EIA said in its weekly report Thursday.

USB Securities LLC analyst Ronald J. Barone said, "With the latest 84 bcf injection, the year-over-year storage deficit eroded to 133 bcf from 184 bcf in the prior week. . . . We would expect another moderate deficit decline upon the release of the next EIA report. Thereafter, we would not be surprised to see a year-over-year surplus by midNovember, considering the overall reasonable temperature outlook."

Futures markets mixed
Unleaded gasoline for November delivery advanced by 1.44¢ to 82.88¢/gal Thursday on NYMEX, while heating oil for the same month also settled higher by 1.28¢ to 82.88¢/gal.

The new front-month December contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes added 38¢ to $30.30/bbl Thursday on NYMEX, as the January position rose by 35¢ to $29.97/bbl.

Meanwhile, the November natural gas contract declined by 1.1¢ to $4.91/Mcf Thursday on NYMEX, "after a bearish storage report" said analysts Friday at Enerfax Daily. "While the cold snap this week has helped firm the cash market and close the gap to futures, many traders remained skeptical of the upside, expecting bearish fundamentals like full storage and lagging industrial demand to undermine any attempts to move much higher."

In London, the December contract for North Sea Brent oil rose 35¢ to $28.63/bbl Thursday on the International Petroleum Exchange. The November natural gas contract rose 6¢ to the equivalent of $4.66/Mcf on IPE.

The average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes lost 6¢ to $28.10/bbl Thursday.