MARKET WATCHCrude futures price inches up

Nov. 15, 2005
The front-month crude futures price inched up in the New York market Nov. 14 after falling at the end of last week to the lowest intraday level since July.

Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer

HOUSTON, Nov. -- The front-month crude futures price inched up in the New York market Nov. 14 after falling at the end of last week to the lowest intraday level since July, but analysts say perhaps only a severe cold snap can renew the rally.

Meanwhile, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Qatar's oil minister, said Nov. 15 that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has 2 million b/d of spare crude production capacity, but there has been little demand for it with crude prices dropping some $15/bbl in the last few weeks.

The International Energy Agency in Paris recently revised down its estimated growth of global oil demand in response to a slowdown in Asian consumption. Last week, the agency lowered world demand growth forecast by 70,000 b/d to 1.2 million b/d in 2005 and by 90,000 b/d to 1.66 million b/d in 2006. But US gasoline demand has made a sharp recovery in recent weeks as retail pump prices have dropped.

Government officials from the world's biggest oil producing and consuming countries, including the US, China, India, Japan, France, and Germany, are scheduled to meet Nov. 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss energy markets, Saudi officials said.

Hurricane update
The US Minerals Management Service said Nov. 14 that crews still have not returned to 162 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that were evacuated in advance of hurricanes this summer. It reported 727,054 b/d of crude and 3.7 bcfd of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut in. Cumulative gulf production lost since Aug. 26 now stands at 85.7 million bbl of crude and 442 bcf of natural gas. That amounts to 15.6% of the annual crude production and 12.1% of the annual gas production from those waters, MMS said.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources said Nov. 14 that 105,190 b/d of crude production and 1.2 bcfd of gas production have been restored in 38 parishes in southern Louisiana. That represents 51.8% of the crude production capacity and 55% of the gas production capacity onshore and in state waters in that region.

Energy prices
The December contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes gained 16¢ to $57.69/bbl Nov. 14 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The January contract inched up by 3¢ to $58.51/bbl. Gasoline for December delivery climbed by 1.11¢ to $1.50/gal on NYMEX. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., lost 4¢ to $57.70/bbl. Heating oil for the same month was up by 0.69¢ to $1.73/gal. However, the December natural gas contract fell by 10.5¢ to $11.61/MMbtu.

In London, the December contract for North Sea Brent crude lost 26¢ to $54.73/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. But gas oil for December escalated by $7.75 to $528/tonne.

The average price for OPEC's basket of 11 benchmark crudes was unavailable for Nov. 14.

Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].