By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 29 -- Energy prices generally fell again in profit taking Mar. 28 as trading resumed after the long Easter weekend.
Meanwhile, analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates said there was no noticeable impact on Indonesian oil production or any other aspects of the oil market by the magnitude 8.7 earthquake that struck Mar. 28 near Sumatra. That latest quake may have been an aftershock of the Dec. 26 earthquake that devastated much of Southeast Asia. The oil industry also escaped any major disruption from that earlier earthquake and subsequent tsunami
The May contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes dropped 79¢ to $54.05/bbl Mar. 28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract fell by 87¢ to $54.78/bbl. On the US spot market, however, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., jumped by $2.96 to $54.06/bbl. Gasoline for April delivery lost 2.65¢ to $1.57/gal on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month slipped by 0.08¢ to $1.5476/gal.
The April natural gas contract continued to fall, down by 6.3¢ to $7/MMbtu on NYMEX, "undermined by a sharp slide in crude oil prices and milder weather forecasts this week," said analysts at Enerfax Daily.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes fell by 86¢ to $49.26/bbl on Mar. 28. The International Petroleum Exchange in London was closed.
