Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Feb. 24 -- Crude futures prices declined slightly in profit taking Feb. 23 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but heating oil and natural gas prices continued to climb with predictions of colder weather through early March.
On Feb. 24, the Energy Information Administration reported commercial US inventories of crude increased by 600,000 bbl to 297 million bbl during the week ended Feb. 18. US gasoline stocks jumped by 1.8 million bbl to 223.5 million bbl during the same period, while distillate fuel inventories fell by 700,000 bbl to 111.8 million bbl, slightly above the lower end of the average range for this time of year. The weekly report was delayed 1 day because US government offices were closed Feb.21 for the US Presidents' Day holiday.
Imports of crude into the US decreased by 791,000 b/d to an average 9.6 million b/d during the latest period. "Imports from Venezuela were particularly high last week," said EIA. Input into US refineries averaged 15 million b/d during the same period, down by 336,000 b/d, with refineries operating at 90.2% of capacity.
Overall, said Paul Horsnell of Barclays Capital Inc., London, "Crude oil prices have moved sharply higher," pushing above $51/bbl on NYMEX this week "for the first time since October, with new highs being set at the back end of the curve." Other NYMEX contracts for May-July also advanced above $51/bbl on Feb. 22 (OGJ Online, Feb. 23, 2005).
Energy prices
The new front-month April contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes lost 25¢ to $51.17/bbl Feb. 23 on NYMEX, while the May contract dipped by 13¢ to $51.59/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., fell by 53¢ to $50.63/bbl.
Heating oil for March delivery continued to escalate on NYMEX, up by 4.29¢ to $1.48/gal, while gasoline for the same month inched up by 0.25¢ to $1.31/gal. The March natural gas contract jumped by $20.8¢ to a 13-week high of $6.31/MMbtu, driven "by colder weather forecasts for the next 2 weeks and another strong rally in heating oil, but concerns about a growing storage surplus limited the upside," said analysts at Enerfax Daily.
On Feb. 24, EIA reported 88 bcf of natural gas was withdrawn from US underground natural gas storage during the week ended Feb. 18, down from 98 bcf the previous week and 164 bcf a year ago. US gas storage now exceeds 1.7 tcf, 406 bcf above last year's level, and up by 356 bcf surplus versus the five-year average.
In London, the April contact for North Sea Brent crude slipped by 11¢to $48.51/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes increased by 44¢ to $44.72/bbl on Feb. 23.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]
