Front-month oil and gas futures prices declined Oct. 24 with crude dropping 1% following a bearish report of increased inventory while natural gas fell 2% in the New York market among mixed economic indicators.

Trinidad and Tobago, a major LNG exporter in the Western Hemisphere, is changing its emphasis from spot sales to large Atlantic Basin customers to contracts with Caribbean and South American nations eager to move to gas from imported diesel and fuel oil for electricity generation, the country’s energy minister said.

Shale oil and gas development has helped create 1.75 million US jobs in the past few years and potentially could be responsible for 2.5 million by 2020 and 3.5 million by 2035, an independent study commissioned by the US Chamber of Commerce and three major trade associations concluded.

Oil prices continued to dive Oct. 23, weighed down by lower-than-expected quarterly earnings reported by some blue-chip companies in the equity market, signaling a still-weak economy.

Energy prices continued to tumble Oct. 22 despite increased turmoil in the Middle East, with front-month benchmark crude down nearly 2% in New York as fear of a global economic slowdown overcame worry of supply disruptions.

Iraq must build a new hydrocarbons regime to attract the necessary financing if it expects to solve its infrastructure problems and become the world’s No. 2 exporter, an official of the country’s government and the International Energy Agency’s chief economist both said.

Following minimal declines over the previous two sessions, the front-month crude contract fell more than $2/bbl Oct. 19 in the New York market as disappointing quarterly earnings of some key companies undercut the equity market.

Oil prices declined early in the Oct. 18 session until encouraging US economic data released later in the day reduced losses to minimal levels in “largely uneventful” trading.

A massive global market upheaval brought about by new oil and gas exploration and production technologies is making energy an even more important part of US foreign policy, US Sec. of State Hillary R. Clinton said.

Energy prices primarily were down in mixed markets Oct. 17 with crude essentially flat in New York as indications of a strengthening economic recovery were tempered by a jump in US inventories.

Energy prices were mixed Oct. 16 with the front-month US benchmark crude contract up just 0.3% in the New York market but North Sea Brent down 0.6% amid reports of inflated production by Saudi Arabia.

US policymakers should consider whether a dramatically improved US oil and gas supply outlook has made energy independence an obsolete goal, a recent Deloitte energy report argued.

World events on Oct. 15 “conspired to drive a deeper wedge” between West Texas Intermediate crude futures prices and those for Brent crude, according to analysts with Standard New York Securities Inc., the Standard Bank Group.

Data for the first 9 months of 2012, collected and published by Barclays Commodities Research, show the LNG market has grown very little year-on-year. Global LNG supply is less than 1% below last year’s levels at 243 billion cu m.