Market watch: Oil futures prices continue to climb

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Mar. 28 -- Oil futures prices continued to rise in international markets Wednesday after the US Department of Energy confirmed the American Petroleum Institute's earlier bullish report of US petroleum inventories.

DOE officials reported early Wednesday that US oil inventories dropped by 4.5 million bbl last week, while gasoline stocks were down 1.9 million bbl. US distillate inventories, including heating oil and jet fuel, declined by 3 million bbl.

The May contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 51¢ to $25.87/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June oil position also increased 48¢ to $25.97/bbl. In after-hours electronic trading, the May contract dipped to $25.86/bbl, while the June contract inched up to $25.98/bbl.

Unleaded gasoline for April delivery bumped up 1.97¢ to 82.05¢/gal during regular trading on the NYMEX. Heating oil for the same month added 1.04¢ to 66.72¢/gal. But the May natural gas contract dropped 8.4¢ to $3.29/Mcf.

The American Gas Association said Wednesday that 13 bcf of natural gas was withdrawn from US underground storage last week. That's down from the 50 bcf withdrawn the previous week and 13 bcf during the same period a year ago. There is now almost 1.5 tcf of gas in US storage, up 818 bcf from a year ago, officials reported.

In London, the May contract for North Sea Brent crude gained 13¢ to $25.44/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange, while the June contract was up 25¢ to $25.25/bbl. The April natural gas contract lost 6.7¢ to the equivalent of $2.07/Mcf on the IPE.

The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes increased 19¢ to $23.87/bbl.

Futures trading on the NYMEX was delayed for an hour Wednesday morning because of telephone problems. The session was extended 30 minutes that afternoon to compensate for that delay.