Crude Again Ends Below $60

Updated from 1:24 p.m. EDT

Crude prices remained below $60 a barrel for a second session Tuesday, as traders dealt with warmer-than-normal weather.

December crude finished up 9 cents to $59.85 a barrel. Unleaded gasoline rose 1.35 cents to $1.60 a gallon, while natural gas futures continued to fall, losing 34 cents to $11.86 per million British thermal units. Heating oil dropped 1.89 cents to $1.80 per gallon.

"We've been bouncing around," said David Pursell, a partner at Pickering Energy Partners. "Products have been weak, natural gas has been weak. Imports have been higher than a lot of people expected. We're sitting here waiting on winter and the weatherman hasn't been particularly cooperative."

The weakness is natural gas isn't helping the price of crude, Pursell noted, adding, "it's just not cold enough."

Nevertheless, he said, a change in the temperature trend could have an outsize effect on the commodities market.

"I don't think you need a lot of cold weather to push the prices up in the other direction," he said.

In addition, traders are waiting for the U.S. Energy Department's Weekly Petroleum Status report, which is due Wednesday.

The recovery of storm-battered refineries in the Gulf of Mexico continues. The U.S. Minerals Management Service said Tuesday's shut-in oil production was just over 1 million barrels of oil per day, the equivalent to 66.67% of the gulf's daily oil production. Shut-in gas production was 5.269 billion cubic feet per day, the equivalent to 52.69% of the gulf's daily gas production.

In company news, UBS upgraded Birmingham, Ala.-based energy holding company Energen(EGN) from neutral to buy.

Rowan Cos.(RDC) reported third quarter net income of $74.6 million, or 67 cents a share, compared to $9.9 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year ago period. The Houston-based drilling contractor posted record revenues of $284.4 million, up from $181.6 million in the third quarter of 2004. The latest quarter includes gains on asset sales and a lost related to hurricane damage that together contributed about 18 cents per share, net of tax.

Parker Drilling(PKD) posted net income of $18.1 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, on revenue of $127.9 million for the third quarter. This compares to a loss of $23.4 million, or 25 cents a share, on revenues of $87.9 million for the third quarter of 2004.

Utility holding company Entergy(ETR) posted third quarter earnings of $350 million, or $1.65 a share, compared to $282.2 million, or $1.22 a share,in the year ago period. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of $1.64 per share for the most recent quarter.

The Associated Press reported that Royal Dutch Shell(RDS-A) workers in the Netherlands are expanding their strike against the oil company. The workers began a phased shutdown on Monday at the Pernis facility in Rotterdam. Union officials said they will broaden the job action to include production facilities at Shell's NAM joint venture with Exxon. The workers are striking over a plan to increase the retirement age to 65 from 60, the AP said.

Noble Corp.(NE) said its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 4 cents per share, doubling its quarterly dividend of 2 cents per share. The dividend will be paid Dec.1 to shareholders of record on Nov. 9.

Shares rose for some of the other big energy market players. ConocoPhillips(COP) was up 91 cents to $66.29. Chevron(CVX) was up 52 cents to $57.59. ExxonMobil(XOM) was up 35 cents to $56.49. Burlington Resources(BR) was up 11 cents $72.33.

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