By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 15 -- Energy prices rebounded Apr. 14, led by a rally in the heating oil market that soon had traders scrambling to cover open sales positions in other energy commodities.
The May contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes fell below the $50/bbl mark to $49.75/bbl in earlier trading in that session before closing at $51.13/bbl, up by 91¢ for the day on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract gained 65¢ to $52.78/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., increased by 91¢ to $51.14/bbl. Heating oil for May delivery jumped by 4.03¢ to $1.48/gal. Gasoline for the same month gained 1.98¢ to $1.50/gal.
The May natural gas contract increased by 9.1¢ to $7.07/MMbtu on NYMEX, "up for only the second time in the last nine sessions," said analysts at Enerfax Daily. After the Energy Information Administration reported on Apr. 14 the injection of 44 bcf of natural gas into US underground storage in the week ended Apr. 8, "many expected the market to drop," analysts said. When that didn't happen "and crude oil began to rally, short-covering took over," they said.
In London, the May contract for North Sea Brent crude gained 43¢ to $50.91/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange.
However, the average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes lost 34¢ to $47.50/bbl on Apr. 14.
