Midday NYMEX crude/products rise on covers, cold
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Crude oil and refined product futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved to higher ground at midday Monday, buoyed by short covering and a cold snap in the key U.S. Northeast region, traders said.
The expiring March crude contract rose as high as $11.94 and eased a bit, trading at $11.92, up 16 cents at 1327 EST/1827 GMT. In the morning, the contract fell to a session low of $11.70.
The April contract traded at $12.08, up 18 cents, after hitting a midday high of $12.09. In the morning, it traded as low as $11.86.
Some traders said April crude's strength was due in part to buying by one big private trading firm.
If the April contract stays above $12, it has a fair chance of working its way up to last week's high of $12.33, they said.
Meanwhile, a brief blast of winter cold in the Northeast has pushed up heating oil futures, traders said.
The front-month contract was up 0.56 cent at 30.90 cents a gallon, after posting a new session high of 31.05 cents. In the early going, it fell to 30.40 cents.
Just last week, the front-month heating oil fell to an intraday record low of 29.20 cents a gallon.
Later this week, however, forecasts call for a return to near-normal weather in the Northeast. And next month, the National Weather Service forecasts more above-normal temperatures in most of the U.S.
"The heating oil market's reaction to the cold weather is psychological. There is no extended cold seen and right now we still have large inventories," said a NYMEX floor trader.
Among other developments, traders said the market was not reacting one way or the other to a statement by Venezuela's new Minister of Energy and Mines Ali Rodriguez that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has not done enough to help lift flagging crude oil prices. Rodriguez also said the group will need more than one meeting to signficantly lift them.
Analysts say OPEC needs to cut production by at least one million barrels per day to rebalance the market. Last year, OPEC agreed to cut production by 2.6 million barrels, while non-OPEC producers pledged to withdraw 500,000 bpd from the world markets.
The agreements have not effectively helped raise oil prices, however, because some producers have not complied fully with their output-cut pledges.
OPEC ministers will meet in Vienna on March 23 for their spring summit, but the group still has not come up with measures to help boost prices still hovering near 12-year lows.
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