MARKET WATCHEnergy prices decline in profit taking
Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Mar. 9 -- Energy futures prices generally declined Monday in profit taking that sharply reduced or wiped out gains from the previous session.
Meanwhile, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Indonesia's energy minister and conference president for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, reiterated in a newspaper interview Tuesday that the group won't change its proposed production cut, effective Apr. 1. OPEC ministers voted at their Feb. 10 to rollback the total production quota by 1 million b/d to 23.5 million b/d in April. They also agreed to eliminate 1.5 million b/d of excess production above the current quota.
Yusgiantoro was quoted in the Jakarta Post as saying that current high oil prices are the result of speculation among traders and concerns over political unrest in Venezuela, not market fundamentals of supply and demand.
Energy prices
The April contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes fell by 69¢ to $36.57/bbl Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wiping out Friday's gain of 62¢/bbl. The May position retreated by 62¢ to $35.82/bbl. On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., declined by 20¢ to $37.08/bbl.
Gasoline for April delivery plummeted by 4.11¢ to $1.0835/gal Monday, destroying the previous gain of 1.94¢/gal. Heating oil for the same month plunged by 2.63¢ to 89.9¢/gal on NYMEX.
The April natural gas contract lost 5¢ to $5.39/Mcf Monday, "as early buying on a firmer cash [spot] market and cooler weather forecasts this week [were] offset by a sharp turn lower in crude prices," said analysts Tuesday at Enerfax Daily.
"Traders said the recent strength in crude oil prices and the onset of spring maintenance at many nuclear power plants were underpinning natural gas, particularly with better Northeast and Midwest heating demand forecast this week," the analysts said.
In London, the April contract for North Sea Brent crude lost 58¢ to $32.77/bbl Monday on the International Petroleum Exchange. Gas oil for March delivery dipped by $1.75 to $278.25/tonne. However, the April natural gas contract jumped by 9.4¢ to the equivalent of $3.92/Mcf on IPE.
The average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes slipped by 16¢ to $32.59/bbl Monday.
Computers use oil
Meanwhile, the expanding use of desktop computers is consuming more fossil fuels and chemicals, according to a new United Nations University study.
That study found that the manufacture of an average desktop computer and monitor consumes more than 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals, making computers more materials-intensive than the manufacture of cars and refrigerators, which require only 1-2 times their weight in fossil fuel.
The study found that construction of an average 24-kg computer and 27-cm monitor requires at least 240 kg of fossil fuel, 22 kg of chemicals, and 1,500 kg of water�"or 1.8 tons in total, the equivalent of a rhinoceros or sports utility vehicle," said UNU officials.
More than 130 million computers are being sold each year, they said.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]