WTI prices gain on shipping channel closure

Crude oil prices were mixed Monday as November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 22 cents to $81.80 per barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was lately down 14 cents to $83.61 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline futures were up a cent to $2.10 per gallon and November heating oil futures added less than a cent to $2.30 per gallon, but November natural gas futures had dropped less than a cent to $3.71 per million British thermal units in afternoon trade in New York.

The gains came on concerns that supplies will be interrupted after a Houston shipping lane had to be close after a barge hit a power line and estimates were that the lane could be closed for a few days, while there were reports of outages since the weekend at some refineries in Louisiana and Texas, although some of those closures were apparently part of scheduled maintenance.

Retail prices for gasoline in the United States were up overnight, with regular unleaded at $2.718 per gallon on average nationally, while mid-grade gasoline was at $2.887 per gallon on average, premium gasoline averaged $2.99 per gallon and diesel cost $3.008 per gallon at the pump on average across the nation.

Regular unleaded gasoline is only averaging above $3 per gallon in three states at the present time, with Alaska’s prices the highest at $3.476 per gallon on average, while drivers in Hawaii are paying an average $3.435 per gallon for regular unleaded and the average price at the pump for regular unleaded is at $3.010 per gallon in California.

South Carolina drivers are currently paying the lowest price on average for regular unleaded at $2.539 per gallon, while drivers in Missouri are paying $2.541 per gallon on average for the cheapest grade of gasoline and New Jersey drivers are paying $2.544 per gallon on average for regular unleaded gasoline.