The front-month benchmark crude contract dipped 0.1% Mar. 13 in the New York futures market following a mixed report on oil inventories, but natural gas increased 1%.

The price of crude continued rising in the New York market with the front-month contract inching up 0.4% Mar. 12 as the US dollar slipped against the yen for the first time in a week and US Treasury prices rose as investors took advantage of recently higher yields. Front-month natural gas dipped 0.1%.

Asian-Pacific nations can be expected to intensify their efforts to improve their energy security as North America achieves that goal, a senior researcher at China’s Energy Research Institute said. Yang Yufeng made that observation as he described conclusions Chinese policymakers reached as they prepared the country’s first Energy Outlook last year.

Worldwide liquid fuels consumption will reach 90.1 million b/d in 2013 and 91.5 million b/d in 2014, due to a moderate recovery in global economic growth, the US Energy Information Administration forecast in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. EIA estimates that world liquid fuels consumption was 89.1 million b/d in 2012.

The price of crude inched up marginally Mar. 11 with the front-month contract posting its highest closing since February on the New York market.

US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ronald L. Wyden (D-Ore.) requested information from the US Energy Information Administration about rising US gasoline prices for a hearing he plans to hold on the situation.

Crude prices continued to climb Mar. 8 in the New York futures market on news the US unemployment rate slipped to 7.7% in February—its lowest level in 4 years—from 7.9% in January.

A larger-than-expected withdrawal of natural gas from US underground storage boosted the front-month gas contract 3.2% Mar. 7 in the New York futures market while crude bounced back “a healthy 1.1%” from the previous day’s loss.

A bigger-than-expected jump in US crude inventory overcame worries about the fate of Venezuela following President Hugo Chavez’s death, triggering reduction of oil prices Mar. 6.

The outlook remained uncertain both inside and outside Venezuela following President Hugo Chavez’s death from cancer on Mar. 5. Venezuelan government offices worldwide closed Mar. 6-8 as the South American oil-producing country began a national mourning period.

Oil prices rebounded Mar. 5 following the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, under whom the country’s production and export of crude sharply declined. Chavez was being treated for cancer.

The oil and gas industry faces a growing diversity of reserves worldwide ranging from shale plays to Arctic drilling, BP PLC Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in an opening keynote address Mar. 6 to attendees at IHS CERAWeek in Houston.

Although the North American oil and gas industry currently is “flourishing” while on “the right track” for the type of rapid and safe resource development that is emulated and envied by the rest of the world, industry players should not become complacent and “sit still.”