Oil futures rose Wednesday, with investors and analysts fixated on prospects for a pickup in crude demand from China after the country shed COVID curbs that were seen curtailing consumption by one of the world’s largest energy importers. Natural-gas futures, meanwhile, extended a January plunge.
Price action
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery
CL.1,
+1.60%
CL00,
+1.60%
CLH23,
+1.60%
rose $1.05, or 1.3%, to $81.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
March Brent crude
BRNH23,
+1.51%,
the global benchmark, was up $1.24, or 1.4%, at $87.36 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. April Brent
BRN00,
+1.47%
BRNJ23,
+1.47%,
the most actively traded contract, gained $1.11, or 1.3%, to trade at $87.30 a barrel.
Back on Nymex, February gasoline
RBG23,
+1.32%
added 2% to $2.6458 a gallon, while February heating oil
HOG23,
+1.18%
rose 1.6% to $3.4151 a gallon.
February natural gas
NGG23,
-9.00%
dropped 6.9% to $2.857 per million British thermal units ahead of its Friday expiration. March natural gas
NGH23,
-6.79%,
the most actively traded contract, declined 4.7% to $2.777 per million BTUs. Based on the most actively traded contract, natural gas was on track for a nearly 9% weekly fall and has dropped by over 32% …