By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, June 29 -- Bearish international energy futures markets continued to shuffle downward Thursday following the 10th consecutive weekly increase in US inventories of crude and refined products.
The steady buildup of US inventories seems to have convinced traders that US market demands should be easily supplied this summer.
The August contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes dropped 5¢ to $25.56/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the September contract lost 11¢ to $25.61/bbl.
Unleaded gasoline for July delivery inched up 0.38¢ to 71.82¢/gal. Home heating oil for the same month was unchanged at 69.94¢/gal.
The August natural gas contract dipped 0.6¢ to $3.28/Mcf.
In London, the August contract for North Sea Brent crude closed at $25.40/bbl, down 26¢ for the day, after trading in a range of $24.91-$25.77/bbl on the International Petroleum Institute.
The July natural gas contract lost 5.7¢ to the equivalent of $2.37/Mcf on the IPE.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven crudes stood at $23.91/bbl Thursday, compared with $24.39 the previous day.
