Energy prices fell across the board Dec. 4 due to a political impasse in negotiation of an US federal budget with the clock ticking toward a yearend deadline to avoid automatic tax increases and spending reductions.

The front-month crude contract inched up 0.2%, Dec. 3 in the New York market despite a decline in the stock market following an unexpected contraction in the US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) in November.

Capital and operating costs of oil and gas upstream projects continue to increase in a trend not likely to end next year, according to IHS indexes.

The US should take specific steps soon to use its energy abundance to avert the looming fiscal crisis and accelerate the nation’s economic recovery, Securing America’s Future Energy recommended in a new report.

Crude prices kept climbing with the front-month contract up 0.8% Nov. 30 in the New York market while natural gas continued to drop, down 7.8¢ in that session, as budget negotiations remained deadlocked in Washington, DC.

Oil prices rebounded Nov. 29, pulled up by the broader market, with crude increasing 1.9% to end a 3-day decline in the New York market. Report of an increase in US natural gas inventory drove the new front-month gas contract down 4%.

Oil prices continued falling Nov. 28, with front-month crude down 0.8% on demand concerns, its third decline in as many sessions on the New York market, despite upbeat statements by US House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama of a possible budget agreement in the near future.

Oil prices declined Nov. 27 in markets worried about the world economy although President Barack Obama says he expects Congress can agree on a framework for reducing US debt before Christmas.

Oil and stock prices were down Nov. 26 with markets pessimistic over the apparent lack of progress on a fiscal budget in Washington, DC. Natural gas fell 4% on milder weather forecasts.

Crude futures prices “jumped rather dramatically” late in an otherwise lackluster session Nov. 23 in New York on reports of a shooting on the Gaza-Israel border that traders feared might endanger last week’s ceasefire agreement.

Oil prices dropped Nov. 20, with crude wiping out the previous session’s gains in the New York futures market, but natural gas bounced back, eliminating its loss.

The author of a study projecting a 17 million b/d increase in global oil production by 2020 has criticized a recent forecast by the International Energy Agency that the US will become the world’s top oil producer by 2020 (OGJ Online, Nov. 13, 2012).

Oil prices jumped Nov. 19 with crude climbing 2.7% in the New York futures market amid continued fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. However, the natural gas price dropped 1.9% on warmer-than-normal weather forecasts.

Wintershall Holding GMBH will take delivery in Germany and elsewhere in Northwest Europe of as much as 45 billion cu m of natural gas over 10 years under new agreements with Statoil.