By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Jan. 22 -- An "extremely bearish" London oil futures market consolidated around a price level of $18.50/bbl Monday and is awaiting new information on either oil inventories or crude production to determine where it will move next, analysts said.
The March contract for North Sea Brent crude closed at $18.57/bbl Monday, up 12¢ for the day after trading in a relatively narrow range of $18.41-$18.66/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange.
However, the February natural gas contract dropped 8.9¢ to the equivalent of $3.51/Mcf on the IPE.
The New York Mercantile Exchange was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday. But in after-hours electronic trading, the February contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes moved up 15¢ to $18.15/bbl and the March contract gained 13¢ to $18.66/bbl from closing prices Friday on the NYMEX.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes gained 23¢ to $17.44/bbl Monday.
