By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 6 -- New York energy futures prices fell Wednesday, following reports of an unexpected increase in US oil inventories.
US Department of Energy officials said early Wednesday that US oil stocks jumped by 6 million bbl last week. The American Petroleum Institute put that number even higher at 6.32 million bbl in its report issued late Tuesday (OGJ Online, June 5, 2002).
In Vienna, Alí Rodríguez Araque, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, called Thursday for continued cooperation between members and non-members to restrain oil production. "Prices do not discriminate among producers. If production is increased to push the market out of balance, then all will suffer," he said.
"Prices now are well within the OPEC range of $22-28/bbl," said Rodríguez. "However, we have some concerns about the real economic situation in the second quarter. These indications point to the need for OPEC to exercise caution, which will likely result in us keeping our present production ceiling unchanged at our June [26] meeting."
The July contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes dropped 44¢ to $24.89/bbl Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The August position was down 37¢ to $25.08/bbl. However, the July contract rebounded to $25.26/bbl in after-hours electronic trading, because of renewed tension in the Middle East, sources said.
During the regular NYMEX session Wednesday, heating oil for July delivery retreated 0.68¢ to 63.6¢/gal. Unleaded gasoline for the same month slipped by 0.21¢ to 75.13¢/gal. The July natural gas contract also lost 6.8¢ to $3.26/Mcf.
In London, the July North Sea Brent crude contract closed at $24.18/bbl Wednesday on the International Petroleum Exchange, down 27¢ from Friday's closing. The July natural gas contract lost 5.2¢ to the equivalent of $1.76/bbl on the IPE. That exchange was closed Monday and Tuesday for public holidays.
The average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes was down 43¢ to $23.14/bbl Wednesday.