Oil Prices Resume Slide
Updated from 2:34 p.m. EST
Crude oil prices continued their downward march Monday, while gasoline prices came off their recent record high.
The benchmark U.S. crude closed 79 cents lower at $54.05 after a one-day bounce last Thursday, while gasoline ended down 1.7 cents at $1.582 a gallon in Nymex floor trading. U.S. financial markets were closed for a holiday Friday.
Despite the recent slump, prices remain "very high as demand keeps increasing," says Joseph Allman, energy analyst at RBC Capital. Worries about inadequate supply "keep crude prices over $50 a barrel in the foreseeable future," he says.
In Texas, investigators continued efforts to identify the cause of an explosion last Wednesday at a
BP
(BP) - Get Report
oil refinery, the third largest in the country. So far, 15 people are dead and more than 100 injured. Shares of BP lost 11 cents, or 0.18%, to $61.60.
In other market developments, OPEC over the weekend signaled it now has no intention of following through on plans to quickly impose a second production increase in the wake of a 500,000-barrel-a-day increase agreed at its March 16 meeting.The oil cartel cited recent market fluctuations, no doubt a reference to oil's two-day, 6% slide last week.
Crude oil stormed to a new record high a week and a half ago, topping late October peaks. The benchmark U.S. crude traded as high as $57.60 in New York, while setting a record closed of $56.72. Last year at this time, prices ranged between $35 and $38 a barrel before beginning the first leg of a relentless record run that smashed the existing record of more than $40 a barrel set in the run-up to the first Gulf War 15 years ago.
Shares of major oil producers were mixed.
ExxonMobil
(XOM) - Get Report
lost 0.04 cents, or 0.07%, to $58.96;
ChevronTexaco
(CVX) - Get Report
rose 13 cents, or 0.22%, to $58.34;
Royal Dutch/Shell
( RD) dropped 28 cents, or 0.49%, to $59.39; and
ConocoPhillips
(COP) - Get Report
rose 50 cents, or 0.48%, to $105.29.
Elsewhere,
Key Energy Services
(KEG) - Get Report
said it will not meet the deadline for filing its 2003 annual report; this could result in its shares being delisted from trading on the
NYSE
. The company had been given an extension to March 31.
Key had previously said it would declare a $165 million to $195 million writedown in its 2003 fixed assets. The company said in a statement that it "is working closely with its auditors to complete the restatement process as quickly as possible," but acknowledges the risk of being removed from trading.
Shares fell 58 cents, or 5.18%, to $10.62.