Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Apr. 20 -- Energy prices shot up again on Apr. 19, as recent refinery outages reminded traders that fuel shortages may still be possible.
Moreover, the Energy Information Institute said Apr. 20 that commercial US crude inventories fell in the week ended Apr. 15 after 9 weeks of consecutive builds, dropping 1.8 million bbl to 318.9 million bbl. US gasoline stocks fell by 1.5 million bbl to 211.6 million bbl. Distillate fuel inventories remained unchanged at 104 million bbl, however, with a decline in diesel fuel counterbalancing a build in heating oil.
US imports of crude were down by 145,000 b/d to 9.7 million b/d during the latest period. However, the input of crude into US refineries increased by 137,000 b/d to 15.4 million b/d, with refineries operating at 91.8% of capacity. Gasoline production fell slightly to 8.7 million b/d, while distillate fuel production increased slightly to 4.1 million b/d.
Energy prices
In the biggest 1-day gain in 2 months for a front-month contract, the May contract for benchmark US light, sweet crude jumped by $1.92 to $52.29/bbl Apr. 19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June position shot up by $2.10 to $53.57/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., gained $1.92 to $52.30/gal. Gasoline for May delivery spiked up by 7.57¢ to $1.57/gal on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month escalated by 5.07¢ to $1.49/gal.
The May natural gas contract gained 9.5¢ to $7.05/MMbtu on NYMEX, "pushed higher by strong crude oil futures prices and by nuclear power unit outages," said analysts at Enerfax Daily. Monthly natural gas contract prices "were progressively higher through January 2006. Temperatures in New York and Chicago are mostly expected to average above normal though this week, with highs in the upper 70s," they said.
In London, the June contract for North Sea Brent crude soared by $2.16 to $52.94/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes increased by $1.19 to $47.71/bbl on Apr. 19.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]
