Market watch: Futures prices mixed

Energy futures prices were mixed Thursday, with no major developments to drive international markets. The July contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes lost 18¢ to $28.37/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

June 1, 2001

2 min read

By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, June 1 -- Energy futures prices were mixed Thursday, with no major developments to drive international markets.

The July contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes lost 18¢ to $28.37/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the August contract was down 17¢ to $28.52/bbl. Both contracts continued to decline in after-hours electronic trading to $28.25/bbl and $28.41/bbl, respectively.

Home heating oil for June delivery gained 0.35¢ to 77.95¢/gal, while unleaded gasoline for the same month jumped 2.2¢ to $1.0632/gal.

The American Petroleum Institute's report Wednesday of a substantial rise last week in reformulated gasoline inventories had little effect on the gasoline futures market, since the total supply of that product is little changed from year-ago levels, analysts said.

The July natural gas contract dipped by 6.7¢ to $3.91/Mcf on the NYMEX.

In London, the July contract for North Sea Brent crude increased by 20¢ to $29.34/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, analysts said they expect that price to slip below $29/bbl within the next few sessions.

The July contract for natural gas rose 4.9¢ to the equivalent of $3.04/Mcf on the IPE.

The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven crudes lost 49¢ to $26.56/bbl Thursday.