Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Feb. 25 -- Crude futures prices rebounded Feb. 24 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recovering some of the loss to profit taking in the previous trading session.
In an interview with CNBC, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali I. al-Naimi said oil prices likely will stick at $40-50/bbl this year. He also said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is likely to change the composition of its basket of seven benchmark crudes. The current OPEC basket consists primarily of light, sweet crudes with low sulfur content, unlike the heavier, sour crudes that are predominant in the Middle East.
OPEC also is expected at some point to raise its target price for crude from the $22-28/bbl that was set in 2000 and is no longer enforced.
Energy prices
The April contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 22¢ to $51.39/bbl on NYMEX, while the May contract was up by 26¢ to $51.85/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., increased by 12¢ to $50.75/bbl.
However, gasoline for March delivery lost 2.76¢ to $1.28/gal Feb. 24 on NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month was down by 1.81¢ to $1.47/gal. The expiring March contract for natural gas dipped by 0.7¢ to $6.30/MMbtu on NYMEX. The gas futures market was "hit by some profit taking after an early runup on the cold [weather]," said analysts at Enerfax daily.
In London, the April contract for North Sea Brent crude gained 93¢ to $49.44/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange.
The average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes increased by 52¢ to $45.24/bbl on Feb. 24.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]