Crude oil prices mixed on mixed news

Oil prices were mixed on Monday. July contracts for Brent crude were 98 cents lower on the Intercontinental Exchange in London, to $70.20 per barrel. Meanwhile, the price for West Texas Intermediate Crude for August delivery was down by $1.24 per barrel at one point in the day but by mid-afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange it was up 4 cents over Friday’s close to trade at $69.18 per barrel. Gasoline, also lower early, had added 2 cents to $2.30 per gallon by mid-afternoon, while heating oil was even at $2.05 per gallon. Natural gas had dropped 18 cents to $7.08 per million British thermal units.

In Nigeria, unions called off a strike after the government agreed to freeze fuel prices for a year. In addition, Shell (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) said it would reopen its Forcadeos export terminal there, which has been closed for over a year due to an attack by militants, next month. That was the good news. The bad news was that summer supply concerns continue in the United States, where refinery utilization is now 7.5 percent below the five-year average. In addition, several Texas refineries reported losses in production over the weekend.