Crude oil prices rise slightly

Crude oil prices were up slightly on Thursday, but prices overall have dropped by 6 percent during the week.  Besides rises in US crude stockpiles and the decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to keep their output ceiling at 28 million barrels per day, crude prices followed other commodity prices down on concerns about rising interest rates in the US and in other parts of the world.

In another development that tended to take pressure off oil prices, Nigerian militants said they had decided to enter into mediation to end their sabotage and kidnapping actions against the oil industry there.  There were still concerns about Iran’s posture on nuclear development, however, as the Iranian president made comments on Wednesday that the West would be made to suffer if they stood in the way of his nation’s nuclear ambitions.

Brent crude for April delivery gained 69 cents to $60.72 on the International Petroleum Exchange in London.  Meanwhile, April contract West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 13 cents to $60.15, gaining back only a small part of its $1.56 decline on Wednesday.  Unleaded gasoline gained 3.98 cents to $1.6900 per gallon and heating oil was up 2.19 cents to $1.7160 per gallon.

Elsewhere, new data on natural gas out of the US department of energy showed that the weekly drawdown of natural gas stockpiles was 85 billion cubic feet, significantly below the expected decline of 110 billion cubic feet and also below the five-year average decline for the week of 108 billion cubic feet.  The numbers were blamed on lower demand during a relatively mild winter.  April delivery natural gas prices dropped 5.8 cents on the day to $6.59 per million British thermal units.