Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Jan. 26 -- Natural gas futures prices rebounded Friday ahead of weekend snow and ice storms across much of the US, but prices for petroleum products declined in profit taking from earlier increases.
The February natural gas contract bumped up by 22.5¢ to $6.06/Mcf Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recouping much of the 31.6¢/Mcf that it lost Thursday after the US Energy Information Administration reported an unexpectedly low withdrawal from US underground storage for the fourth consecutive week through Jan. 16.
Gas futures prices rose Friday despite a mostly lower physical spot market, said analysts Monday at Enerfax Daily. "Recent high gas prices may have slowed demand. East Coast prices rose above the equivalent price for heating oil and may have forced some utilities and industrial firms to burn more oil," they reported.
However, demand for both natural gas and alternative heating oil likely increased over the weekend as winter storms turned US roadways treacherous from the Central Plains to the East Coast. Snow and freezing rain were still blowing across the Great Lakes, mid-Atlantic, and Midwest states early Monday.
Petroleum product prices
Petroleum product prices pulled back in profit taking Friday, following an earlier surge last week. Gasoline for February delivery lost 1.84¢ to $1.04/gal Friday on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month dropped 1.3¢ to $1.03/gal.
Meanwhile, the March contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes inched up 1¢ to $34.94/bbl Friday on NYMEX, while the April contract jumped by 27¢ to $34.03/bbl. However, the US cash spot market for West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., shot up by 60¢ to $35.03/bbl.
In London, the March contract for North Sea Brent oil lost 15¢ to $30.96/bbl Friday on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, gas oil for February delivery advanced by $5.50 to $282/tonne. The February natural gas contract jumped by 16.9¢ to the equivalent of $5.51/Mcf Friday on IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes gained 3¢ to $30.74/bbl Friday.
For all of last week, however, OPEC's basket price averaged $30.70/bbl, down 9¢ from the previous week. The OPEC basket price averaged $28.10/bbl for all of 2003 and $24.36/bbl during 2002.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]
