Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Nov. 28 -- Energy prices declined late last week, ending a 2-day rally for crude futures in the New York market, with reports of small increases in US inventories of crude and refined products.
In London, the January contract for North Sea Brent crude lost 29¢ to $55.01/bbl in Nov. 25 trading on the International Petroleum Exchange. Gas oil for December fell by $7.25 to $493.75/tonne.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 11 benchmark crudes dropped 47¢ to $50.42/bbl on Nov. 25. So far this year, OPEC's basket price has averaged $50.48/bbl.
The New York Mercantile Exchange was closed Nov. 24-25 for the US Thanksgiving holiday. On Nov. 23, however, the January contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes was down by 13¢ to $58.71/bbl. West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., inched up by 2¢ to $58.47/bbl on the US spot market that same date. Heating oil for December delivery lost 4.69¢ to $1.69/gal on NYMEX. Gasoline for the same month was down by 2.99¢ to $1.46/gal on that date. The December natural gas contract continued to climb, however, up by 0.6¢ to $11.62/MMbtu on Nymex.
Inventories increase
The Energy Information Administration said Nov. 23 that commercial US inventories of crude increased by 400,000 bbl to 321.8 million bbl during the week ended Nov. 18. US gasoline stocks inched up by 200,000 bbl to 200.4 million bbl during the same period, while distillate fuel gained 1.6 million bbl to 124.5 million bbl, with an increase in heating oil compensating for a slight decline in diesel.
Imports of crude into the US increased by 519,000 b/d to 10.2 million b/d during that week. The input of crude into US refineries gained by 431,000 b/d to 14.9 million b/d, with refineries operating at 88.1% of capacity. Gasoline production increased to 9 million b/d, and distillates were up to 4 million b/d.
EIA also reported Nov. 23 the withdrawal of 8 bcf of natural gas from US underground storage in the week ended Nov. 18. That marked the first withdrawal from gas storage in this winter season and exceeded the consensus of Wall Street analysts. It compared with the injection of 53 bcf in the previous week and the withdrawal of 17 bcf during the same period last year. US natural gas storage now stands at 3.3 tcf, which is 32 bcf below the storage level a year ago but 195 bcf above the 5-year average.
Gulf Coast recovering
The US Minerals Management Service said crews have not yet returned to 1 rig and 134 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that were evacuated ahead of hurricanes this summer. Officials said 615,623 b/d of crude and 3.2 bcfd of natural gas production from the gulf remained shut in as of Nov. 23. Cumulative production lost from those waters from Aug. 26 through Nov. 23 totaled 91.7 million bbl of crude and 473.5 bcf of natural gas. That amounts to 31.96% of the crude and 16.8% of the natural gas produced annually in those waters.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].
