By V. Phani Kumar and Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Crude futures were little changed on Wednesday, after the previous session’s strong gains as investors monitored turmoil in Libya and other parts of the Middle East.
Crude for May delivery (CLK11 105.38, +0.41, +0.39%) , the new front-month contract, slipped 7 cents to $104.90 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Earlier, the contract hit an intraday high of $105.38 a barrel.
May futures closed up 1.8%, or $1.88, at $104.97 a barrel in Tuesday’s regular trading session in New York.
The advance came as coalition forces continued their air attacks on troops loyal to Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
Days after they launched air strikes to enforce a no-fly zone as part of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians engaged in a struggle to oust Gadhafi, there was little evidence that the attacks had stopped the bloodshed or shifted the balance of power in favor of the rebels, according to a Washington Post report.
Gadhafi appeared on Libyan television for the first time in around a week to rally supporters and pledge victory.
Fears remained about the North African country’s oil production, despite assurances from Saudi Arabia that the world’s largest oil supplier would meet any supply shortfall resulting from the turmoil in Libya. Unrest in Yemen and Syria also added to geopolitical worries.
“Events this week in Libya make it increasingly unlikely that we’ll see a swift normalization of Libyan crude oil production in the near term,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Soozhana Choi in a note to clients.
“Markets are increasingly bracing themselves for a lengthy disruption to Libyan crude oil exports that may last potentially many months if not more than a year,” Choi added.
Meanwhile, April natural-gas futures (NGJ11 4.29, +0.04, +0.92%) rose 3 cents to $4.29 per million British thermal units.
