Crude Oil - DJ UPDATE: OIL FUTURES: Nymex Crude Settled Near 7-Wk Low (Adds settlement prices)
By Matt Chambers
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures settled near a seven-week closing low Tuesday, as U.S. refinery maintenance and unplanned outages cut short-term demand and led to forecasts of increased crude inventories.
The front-month April light, sweet crude contract, in its last day of trading, settled $2.52 a barrel lower than the May contract, which analysts said indicated demand for crude is low now, but seen picking up in coming months.
"Refineries aren't scheduling deliveries for this time of year, and are rather trying to line them up" after plants that are down for seasonal scheduled maintenance come back on line, said David Kirsch, an analyst at PFC Energy in Washington.
The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 14 cents, or 0.2%, higher at $56.73 a barrel. The May contract, which will take over as the front-month contract Wednesday, lost 45 cents to settle at $59.25 a barrel.
Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell 32 cents to $60.20 a barrel.
RBOB gasoline futures,which have been the standout performer of the oil markets in the past two months, fell from a seven-month intraday high after earlier failing to rally above $2 a gallon.
Front month April reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending, or RBOB, fell 1.6 cents, or 0.8%, to $1.9421 a gallon. Earlier in the day prices rose to $1.985 a gallon, the highest intraday price since Aug. 22. Front month heating oil fell 1.97 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.6687 a gallon.
Analysts said they still believe there is strength in gasoline prices. "RBOB prices must get to a level that attracts supply from other places," said Tom Bentz, an analyst and broker at BNP Paribas in New York. "We may not be there yet."
Traders are now focused on inventory data due Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT from the federal Energy Information Administration, which is expected to report gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.6 million barrels last week, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. That would be the sixth straight weekly fall for gasoline.
Crude oil stockpiles are seen rising by 1.4 million barrels; distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, are expected to fall by 1.1 million barrels; and refinery runs are seen gaining by 0.6 percentage point.
Following are prices for selected Nymex and ICE contracts and their comparison to values at the prior day's settlement. Highs and lows include levels hit in overnight trade.
Prices for crude oil are in dollars a barrel and the change is in cents; prices for Nymex products are in cents a gallon and the changes are in points; prices for ICE gasoil are in dollars a ton and the change is in cents.
Nymex Prices:
Contract Settle Change Vs Low High
Monday
Apr crude oil 56.73 +14 56.10 57.58
May crude oil 59.25 -45 59.15 60.18
Apr heating oil 166.87 -197 166.66 171.08
May heating oil 166.52 -202 166.34 170.65
Apr RBOB 194.21 -160 193.75 198.50
May RBOB 189.12 -79 188.55 191.90
ICE Prices:
Contract Settle Change Vs Low High
Monday
May ICE Brent 60.20 -32 60.00 61.06
Jun ICE Brent 61.07 -30 60.90 61.86
Apr gasoil 529.50 -275 528.00 535.50
May gasoil 533.00 -325 532.00 539.25
-By Matt Chambers, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2062; matt.chambers@dowjones.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2007 16:50 ET (20:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 04 50 PM EDT 03-20-07
