Crude oil lower; natural gas, heating oil up

Crude oil prices fell on Mondy despite cold weather and heavy snowfall in the northeast US over the weekend, a reflection of the mild winter overall and its resulting lower than usual demand for heating oil. Brent March contracts, which expired at the end of the trading day, lost 10 cents to $59.54 per barrel in late afternoon trade in London. April contract Brent crude, however, gained 1 cent to $61.07 per barrel.

By early afternoon in New York, West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange had dropped 24 cents to $61.60 per barrel. However, March Nymex heating oil was up 1.49 cents to $1.6575 per gallon. March Nymex Henry Hub natural gas was up 5 cents to $7.37 per million British thermal units. Despite the gain, natural gas futures are nearly half of their $15.78 per mBtu, reached just two months ago. The drop has been laid to the mild winter in the US.