Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, July 26 -- Crude futures prices continued to climb July 25 in anticipation of a decline in US oil inventories after recent hurricanes disrupted production in the Gulf of Mexico.
The US Minerals Management Service reported 7,886 b/d of oil and 107.14 MMcfd of natural gas still shut in as of July 22, although crews are back at work at all of the offshore rigs and platforms that were evacuated ahead of Hurricane Emily. The cumulative production shut in by that storm through July 18-22 totaled 240,024 bbl of oil and 1.6 bcf of natural gas, said MMS officials.
A record seven tropical storms and two hurricanes have hit the gulf since the start of the US Atlantic hurricane season in June, officials said.
Energy prices
The September contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes increased by 37¢ to $59.02/bbl July 25 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the October contract gained 49¢ to $59.75/bbl. On the US spot market, however, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., lost 65¢ to $56.01/bbl. Heating oil for August delivery gained 2.47¢ to $1.61/gal, but gasoline for the same month fell by 2.16¢ to $1.71/gal.
The August natural gas contract was down by 10¢ to $7.28/MMbtu, pressured by forecasts for better weather later this week. "But early losses [in the natural gas futures market] were pared by a strong rebound in crude oil prices after a lot of morning selling," said analysts at Enerfax Daily. "While record heat over much of the nation for the last week has propped up the cash market, milder late-week weather and still high storage inventories should temper much buying," they predicted.
In London, the September contract for North Sea Brent crude increased by 28¢ to $57.86/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, the August gas oil contract lost 25¢ to $506.50/tonne on IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 11 benchmark crudes gained 26¢ to $52.07/bbl.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]
