Market watch: Energy futures prices continue to decline

Energy futures prices continued their downward slide on international markets Thursday. The September contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes dropped 16¢ to $27.40/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Aug. 17, 2001

2 min read

By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, Aug. 17 -- Energy futures prices continued their downward slide on international markets Thursday.

The September contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes dropped 16¢ to $27.40/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the October contract fell 25¢ to $26.49/bbl. However, both contracts rebounded in after-hours electronic trading to $27.56/bbl and $26.64/bbl respectively.

Unleaded gasoline for September delivery lost 1.78¢ to 77.45¢ gal. Home heating oil for the same month slipped by 0.37¢ to 74.15¢/gal.

In Caracas, Guaicaipuro Lameda, president of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), said that affiliate Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s 158,650 b/d refinery in Illinois could be down for 6 weeks as a result of a fire this week that caused an estimated $25million in damages.

There were no injuries during that 4-hour fire. Lameda said Citgo is drawing up contingency plans to supply customers while the refinery is down.

Meanwhile, the natural gas contract for September was down 10.1¢ to $3.37/Mcf on the NYMEX.

In London, the expiring September contract for North Sea Brent crude closed unchanged at $25.55/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. The new near-month contract for October lost 11¢ to $25.63/bbl. The September natural gas contract also slipped 0.44¢ to the equivalent of $2.42/Mcf on the IPE.

The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries retreated 65¢ to $24.32/bbl.