NEW YORK (AFX) - Crude-oil futures drifted lower early Friday, trading back below the $60-a-barrel level in light volumes on the holiday-shortened final session of the year.
Crude for February delivery was last trading down 52 cents at $59.80 a barrel. The contract closed at its highest level in two weeks Thursday after supply data showed a bigger-than-expected decline in gasoline and distillate inventories in the latest week.
Unleaded-gasoline futures were down 2.14 cents at $1.631 a gallon, and heating oil was off 1.29 cents at $1.69 a gallon.
Natural-gas was down 12.3 cents at $11.10 per million British thermal units. The Department of Energy reported a 162 billion cubic feet decline in gas in storage in the latest week, slightly more than analysts were expecting.
Natural gas prices have fallen almost 30% from their December peak of $15.78, mostly due to milder-than-average weather.
UBS said temperatures have been 22% warmer this week than the same period a year ago, and are 21% warmer than the average for the time of year.
UBS is expecting the government to report a drawdown of just 80 to 90 billion cubic feet of gas in storage next week, which will be well below the year-ago withdrawal of 151 billion cubic feet and the five-year average of 128 billion cubic feet.
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