Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Aug. 13 -- Energy futures prices were mixed Tuesday, with no major changes in market fundamentals and traders continuing to take profits from crude and home heating oil.
The September contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes dropped 9¢ to $31.92/bbl Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the October position was down 8¢ to $31.82/bbl. The cash spot market price for West Texas Intermediate crude declined by 10¢ to $31.98/bbl Tuesday.
Heating oil for September delivery dipped by 0.13¢ to 83.41¢/gal on NYMEX. However, unleaded gasoline for the same month jumped by 1.59¢ to 95.64¢/gal.
The September natural gas contract also increased, gaining 8.8¢ to $5.22/Mcf Tuesday on the strength of expectations of hotter weather in the Northeast US this week.
In London, the September contract for North Sea Brent oil dipped by 4¢ to $29.87/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. Brokers reported that market remained bearish, despite reports of more sabotage and fire in another Iraqi oil pipeline. Analysts said the market apparently has factored into current prices the effects of sabotage in delaying the recovery of Iraq's oil production and subsequent exports.
The September natural gas contract fell by 4.2¢ to the equivalent of $2.45/Mcf Tuesday on IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes continued to slip Tuesday, losing 5¢ to $28.97/bbl. However, OPEC's basket price has remained above the group's target level of $22-28/bbl since Aug. 1. OPEC's price band mechanism calls for members to adjust production quotas up or down by 500,000 b/d for each $1/bbl that its average basket price remains above or below the target price band for 20 consecutive trading days.
US oil imports rise
The US imported 10.05 million b/d of foreign crude during July, up 9.4% from the same period a year ago "and not too far short of the record 10.08 million b/d set in May of this year," the American Petroleum Institute reported Wednesday.
After several months of weakness, US demand for gasoline inched up nearly 1% in July from year-ago levels, although consumer prices for the fuel were up by 8.3% from last year, API officials said. During the first quarter of this year, US retail pump prices for gasoline were up almost 40% from the same period in 2002, including a 45% jump in February of this year.
However, US demand for distillate fuel declined by 0.6% to less than 3.7 million b/d in July, compared with a year ago "when deliveries were substantially above trend," API said. US demand for kerosene jet fuel was down by 8.8% from a year ago, running at an 8-year low. Total US refining was up by 1.2% last month from July 2002.
After 6 months of declines, US oil production increased in July to 5.76 million b/d, "about the same as a year ago," API reported. Alaskan production increased by 3.9%, while production in the Lower 48 declined by 0.9% from last year's level. As a result of Hurricane Claudette, API reported only "minimal short-term production losses of a few hundred thousand bbl a day" in the Gulf of Mexico during the latest period.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]