By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 21 -- Energy futures prices generally continued to fall Thursday, breaking out of their earlier seesaw pattern of up 1 day, down the next.
Oil futures prices did spike briefly during earlier trading in London as news reports of two bombings in Istanbul fanned traders' nervousness over increased terrorist activity in the Middle East. But investor funds and speculators continued to liquidate stale positions and take profits from the previous rally, analysts said.
Mixed markets
Markets were mixed, however. The December contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudest dipped by 6¢ to $32.86/bbl Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the January contract dropped 21¢ to $31.86/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., lost 5¢ to $32.88/bbl.
Unleaded gasoline for December delivery plunged by 2.36¢ to 87.08¢/gal Thursday on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month lost 1.35¢ to 87.42¢/gal. The December natural gas contract fell by 12¢ to close at $4.62/Mcf.
The NYMEX natural gas futures market opened on an upward trend Thursday and jumped to the day's high of $4.93/Mcf soon after the US Energy Information Administration reported the first withdrawal of gas—32 buff during the week ended Nov. 14—from US underground storage in the current winter heating seas. "But it was mostly downhill from there for the rest of the day," said analysts Friday at Enerfax Daily. "A weak [natural gas] cash market and the [price] spreads [between spot and futures gas contracts] suggest there is plenty of supply around, which kept a lid on the market."
In London, the January contract for North Sea Brent oil settled at $29.56/bbl Thursday on the International Petroleum Exchange, down 22¢ for the day after trading between $29.40-30.40/bbl. Gas oil for December lost $2.25 to $267.25/tonne. However, the December natural gas contract continued to climb, up by 6.8¢ to the equivalent of $5.45/Mcf Thursday on IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudest declined by 34¢ to $29.45/bbl Thursday.
