Market watch: Natural gas futures prices rise as oil prices drop

May 1, 2002

The June contract for natural gas jumped by 23.4¢ to $3.80/Mcf Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but other petroleum futures prices were down.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, May 1 -- The June contract for natural gas jumped by 23.4¢ to $3.80/Mcf Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but other petroleum futures prices were down.

The NYMEX June crude oil contract fell 28¢ to $27.29/bbl, while the July position lost 19¢ to $26.93/bbl.

Unleaded gasoline for May delivery dropped 1.06¢ to 82.3¢/gal, and heating oil dipped 0.3¢ to 68.9¢/gal.

After the close of the NYMEX session, officials of the American Petroleum Institute reported US crude inventories increased by 7.6 million bbl last week to 325.6 million bbl. Distillate stocks also were up by 2.7 million bbl to 121.2 million bbl. However, with the nation poised for the start of the summer driving season, US gasoline stocks dropped 1.6 million bbl to 210.5 million bbl.

In London, the June contract for North Sea Brent oil declined by 21¢ to $26.47/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. The June natural gas contract retreated 2.2¢ to the equivalent of $1.93/Mcf.

The official news agency for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was closed Tuesday for a holiday and did not transmit an average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes.