On Monday, prices rallied more than $3 after Iraq was forced to halt exports of 450,000 barrels per day from its northern Kurdistan region through Turkey after an arbitration decision confirmed Baghdad’s
consent was needed to ship the oil. Crude oil prices continued to trade higher on Tuesday, extending sharp gains from the previous session on supply concerns and hopes that banking sector turmoil is somewhat contained. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $73.20 per barrel, gaining 39 cents per barrel day over day, or 0.5%. Brent crude futures settled at US$78.65 per barrel, up 53 cents a day over day, or 0.7%. Meanwhile, Natural gas traded down 11.8 cents per MMBTU at Henry closing at $2.088 per MMBTU – what a bargain. It is our feeling that we have hit a bottom on Natgas or are close to it.