Crude Futures Post Modest Gains
NYMEX-traded crude futures switched gears on Thursday to finish with slight gains, as traders closely monitored developments in Ukraine. Oil futures spent most of the session trending lower before turning higher in the last hour of trading as investors weighed the potential for a disruption in Russian crude supplies. Crimea’s Moscow-backed parliament voted to allow the southern Ukrainian region to become part of Russia earlier on Thursday. Also supporting U.S. crude, jobless claims fell by 26,000 to a three-month low last week, a positive sign for the labor market, according to data released Thursday. But manufacturing activity slowed in January, indicating a potential fall in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery tacked on ¢ to settle at US$101.56 per barrel (/bbl). In European trading, prompt-month April Brent rose 34¢ to finish at $108.10/bbl, widening its premium to WTI to $6.54/bbl from $6.31/bbl a day earlier. The Brent contract hit $112.39/bbl on Monday – its highest since December 30.

Natural Gas Jumps on Supply Data
U.S. natural gas futures ended 3% higher on Thursday on a larger-than-expected weekly storage draw, despite forecasts for milder temperatures and weaker heating demand over the next couple of weeks. Utilities pulled 152 billion cubic feet (Bcf) from storage last week, over the year-ago draw of 149 Bcf and the five-year average draw of 105 Bcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Analysts had forecast a draw of just 138 Bcf. Utilities have withdrawn a record 2.638 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas since the start of the heating season in November, leaving just 1.196 Tcf in storage now. That is the lowest storage level for this time of year since 2004, Bloomberg data shows. The front-month was now up about 10% since the start of the year. NYMEX-traded natural gas for April delivery settled up 13.9¢, to US$4.662 per million British thermal units.