The benchmark oil for January delivery fell a penny to $ 72.65 a barrel as investors weighed whether the recent signs of recovery in demand could be sustained next year, and also after the dollar rose against other major currencies. In London, February Brent crude fell 92 cents to $ 73.37 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Some analysts expect that the recent spike in demand is not sustainable beyond middle of next year as they begin to fade the effects of extraordinary expenditure plans adopted by the U.S. government to rescue the economy.
The Energy Information Administration reported that inventories natural gas last week had a reduction of 207,000 million cubic feet, which _segun analyst Stephen Schork_ is the most substantial of all time in this time of year.
Combination winter rain and snow has forced maximum use of the heaters in the north-central and northwestern United States, with a huge natural gas consumption in the country”s major markets like Chicago.
However, the amount of stored gas is still 14% higher than five-year average for this time of 2009.
“He did a brutal cold,” said Schork. “People had said for a long time (prices of) natural gas would rebound and made a mistake all year. But with a large mining (deposits), I think prices will rise again.”
The natural gas contract for January delivery jumped 30.6 cents, nearly 6% to $ 5.768 per thousand cubic feet in the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gas price has doubled since September.
In other operations in January at the New York market, heating oil fell less than a cent to $ 1.9574 a gallon ( 3.8 liters) while gasoline fell 2.19 cents to $ 1.852 per gallon.
___
Associated Press reporter Paul Gorondi in Budapest contributed information.
Post a Comment