By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 17 -- Profit taking from the recent rally brought down energy futures prices early Tuesday on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
Cash-flush international investment funds were seen entering the market, signaling a strong price trend in coming months, analysts said.
Energy prices
In London, the March contract for North Sea Brent oil fell by 25¢ to $30.32/bbl Monday on the International Petroleum Exchange. Gas oil for March delivery was down by 75¢ to $258.75/tonne. However, the March natural gas contract inched up by 1.9¢ to the equivalent of $4.16/Mcf on IPE.
The New York Mercantile Exchange was closed Monday for Presidents' Day, a US holiday. However, on the US spot market West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., gained 51¢ to $34.44/bbl Monday.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes dipped by 2¢ to $29.72 Monday.
Weather outlook
Forecasters are predicting more seasonal temperatures in the Northeast US this week after a long cold weekend. The Chicago area also is expected to warm to seasonal temperatures or slightly above.
"Despite unexpectedly large inventory draws over the last 3 weeks, ample [US underground natural gas] storage levels should temper buying" on the natural gas futures market, said analysts Tuesday at Enerfax Daily. "Weekly declines of 75 bcf [from storage] are need in the remaining 8 weeks of the withdrawal season for inventories to drop to about 1 tcf by April."
US gas storage now is slightly above 1.6 tcf, up by 232 bcf from year ago levels but 38 bcf below the 5-year average for this time of year, they said.
