Energy futures rose in a heavily traded ACCESS session on Thursday in a buying spree related to the expiration of crude oil options. October crude oil futures rose 16 cents a barrel to $15.02a barrel on volume of 6.393 lots. "The high volume ... is because of the option expirations today," an ACCESS trader said. Earlier, on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), prices for crude oil rose 33 cents a barrel, pushed higher by concerns that an approaching hurricane could disrupt supplies from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. ACCESS unleaded gasoline tracked crude higher with the October contract price reaching 44 cents a gallon, up 0.26 cent a gallon from the Nymex settlement Volume hit 169 total lots, with 166 traded for October. Heating oil futures rose 0.46 cent a gallon to 41 cents a gallon, with volume at 260 lots for all months.

US West Coast products flat

US West Coast CARB gasoline prices were flat in thin trade Thursday as refinery buyers were sideline by anindustry function and lack of demand. An industry sponsored fishing trip kept some players out of the market and cut back trade activity. CARB gasoline prices were flat at 48/49 cents in Los Angeles and about 0.50 cent a gallon higher in San Francisco. Conventional gasoline fell was flat at 43/44 cents, tracking CARB grade. Spot distillates, which have been lifted by farming activity, were also flat, with CARB diesel at around 48.50 cents a gallon and low sulphur diesel at 43 cents. Weekly inventory data, issued by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late Tuesday showed West Coast gasoline supplies on hand a refineries fell 613,000 barrels last week to 28 million in California. But with buyers sidelined, the healthy draw failed to boost current markets.

Amoco chemical plant delayed

Amoco Corp's Canadian unit has delayed construction of a petrochemical plant in central Alberta for eight months because design work for the C$250-million facility is taking longer than first expected.Calgary-based Amoco Canada Petroleum Co Ltd now plans to start construction of its Prairie Rose petrochemical plant at Joffre, Alberta in June 1999 and startup is scheduled for June 2001, spokesman Rich Smith said. The company had originally planned to kick off construction this fall and begin production in autumn of 2000. The plant, first announced in April 1997, will produce linear alpha olefins, petrochemicals used to produce a range of consuer and industrial products, including plastics, detergents and synthetic motor oils. Joffre, near Red Deer, Alberta, is the site of several existing and planned petrochemicals plants owned by NOVA Corp and Union Carbide Corp. Smith said the the plant delay was not the result of any issues arising from Amoco's proposed worldwide merger with British Petroleum Co Plc.

US West Coast crudes rise

Differentials for US West Coast waterborne crudes were unchanged on Thursday, but refiners reported a flurry of South American imports that could drop demand for Alaskagrades in October. Benchmark Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude rose with broader oil markets, Traders said regional refiners were switching to foreign barrels because of high prices for Alaskan crude. Differentials for ANS remain at a 16-month high of 84.50 cents a barrel under West Texas Intermediate/Cushing crude. While pure ANS cost about $6 a barrel less than a year ago, buyers were concerned that the narrow discount would keep costs high for their term contracts, which comprise the greatest volume of ANS sold. Pure ANS was pegged at $14.14/14.30 a barrel, nearly 50 cents a barrel over Wednesday's levels.

Opec basket price up

The price of the Opec basket of seven crudes rose to $12.97 a barrel on Thursday from $12.53 Wednesday, the Opec news agency said quoting the Opec secretariat. The basket comprises Algeria's Saharan Blend, Indonesia's Minas, Nigeria's Bonny Light, Saudi Arabian Light, Dubai of the UAE, Venezuela's Tia Juana and Mexico's Isthmus.

NWE oil products fimer

NWE oilproduct prices firmed modestly in Friday morning trade, with many players out of the office for an industry gathering. High sulphur fuel oil barges in Rotterdam traded at $67.00 and $66.50 early, slightly higher than late Thursday levels, according to dealers. Gas oil trade remained quiet, with heating oil barges out of Rotterdam were quoted at between about 25 cents and $1.00 over the October IPE. However, no trades were done. Prompt diesel in the hub was quoted between about $10.50 and$11.25 over futures for small parcels of intermediate grade material, traders said. Gasoline activity appeared very sluggish, with no deals heard done. However, the swaps market was seen slightly stronger, helped by the gains in the futures market.

HK gold higher

Hong Kong spot gold opened higher on Friday, extending its rises in New York overnight, following early buying and short-covering in pre-opening trade, dealers said. Bullion opened at $291.80/292.30 an ounce, up from New York's $290.70/291.20 close onThursday and Hong Kong's previous close of $287.40/90. "Gold was pushed up overnight by a slide in the US stock market and a weakening of the US dollar against the yen," a senior dealer at a local investment house said. "The gold market has a little upward interest in the Asia market," the dealer added. "But I don't expect any strong buying and I guess the price of gold will probably trade between $291 to $293 today." Spot silver opened at $4.98/5.01 an ounce in Hong Kong, unchanged from New York's Thursday close. Local gold opened HK$39 higher at HK$2,675 a tael.

LME's new SWORD depository

The First Chicago Clearing Centre (FCCC), a division of First Chicago NBD, has been appointed as the depository for the London Metal Exchange's new electronic warrant exchange system SWORD, the LME said in a statement on Friday. The 2.5 million pound electronic system will be in operation by April 1999and is a joint venture between the LME and the London Clearing House (LCH). FCCC will facilitate the safestorage of LME warrants in its vaults based in the City of London, the LME said. "FCCC has extensive experience in the provision of depository services which make it ideally suited to servicing our market," David King, the LME's Chief executive said. He added, "We are confident that FCCC's involvement will ensure that SWORD will provide greater efficiency and increased security in the controlling of LME warrants."

Punjab cotton prices drop

Punjab cotton variety prices added to their previous losses on Friday due to increased supplies, traders said. In spot deals, Bengal-deshi held steady at Rs 1,500 per maund (37.32 kg). Forward deliveries for October were down Rs 10 at Rs 1,340/1,360 while November prices fell Rs 5-10 at Rs 1,300/1,320. "Heavy rains in the Punjab region have stopped and farmers have now started bringing the new cotton crop into the market," one dealer said. Saw-ginned cotton dropped by Rs 25 to Rs 1,700/1,900 per maund. October delivery was priced at Rs 1,725/1,750 and November atRs 1,700/1,710 per maund for average grade. In the Gujarat segment, cotton prices rose slightly on expected delays in new crop arrivals following the recent rains. Some traders said heavy rains in Gujarat might affect the quality of the crop. "Continuous rains may lower the size and quality of the new crop," said trader Madhubhai Vohra.

NYCE cotton futures settle lower

Cotton futures on the New York Cotton Exchange settled lower Thursday on trade and local selling amid concerns about weakened global demand, traders said. "The action was mainly local selling, with some trade selling and some spec selling in the morning," said a New York-based trader. In the absence of market-moving news, market participants " acted in sympathy with the equities market," the trader said. The trader estimated Thursday's volume for the cotton futures market at about 5,000 lots exchanged. For the active December contract he also saw support at 74 cents a pound and resistance at 75.5 cents a pound. Traders are nowwatching the future direction of the equities market, because of worries that losses in the equities market might cause sympathetic selling in the futures market as well, said Ray Streker, a trader with LFG Inc, a commission house in New York. He was referring to the expiration of futures and options of stocks, which typically cause gyrations in the equity market.

CBOT corn, wheat close mixed

Corn and wheat futures closed mixed Thursday at the Chicago Board of Trade with analysts saying fund buying interest in wheat and fund selling interest in corn motivated the markets. "Wheat led the pack today," said Victor Lespinasse, analyst with AG Edwards on the CBOT floor. He said a buy recommendation in wheat by an analyst appearing on CNBC Thursday pushed the market up. Steve Koch, analyst with the Stewart-Peterson Group in West Bend, Wisconsin, added that weekly export sales reported by the US Department of agriculture also added some support. The USDA pegged wheat export sales at 1.04 millionmetric tons, while corn export sales were pegged at 607,400 metric tons. "The weekly export sales for wheat were fantastic," said Koch. "Corn was under pressure from low export sales and the fact that it didn't have someone on CNBC telling people to buy corn." Lespinasse added that weakness in the stock market and some fund selling kept corn under pressure.

Onion prices zoom up

Onion prices have zoomed up to Rs 30 per kilo and are likely to go up further if the heavy rainfall continues for another week in the district, according to Agricultural Producing Market Committee (APMC) sources here. About 1,100 quintals of onion were unloaded by the APMC here on Thursday. The auction rate was Rs 2,350 per quintal, while in Satna APMC it was Rs 3,150 per quintal. The onion crop suffered extensive damage in the continuing rains in Nasik and Satna.

Indonesian rice tender result due

The results of Indonesia's tender to buy 600,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam, China, Thailand and Myanmar will beannounced at 0800 GMT, an official from the Bulog state commodity regulator said. "The result will be announced at three PM (Local time)," said the official. Bulog initially planned to announce the result at five PM (1000 GMT). Nine companies participated in the tender.