Light, sweet crude oil prices for December delivery started out the week with a moderate decline to settle at just above $46/bbl on Nov. 2. Analysts said they saw little or no momentum for any significant price support right now. The US government weekly inventory report comes out Nov. 4.

Near-term oil prices are likely to continue in a range under $50/bbl, just as they have for weeks, noted Olivier Jakob, Petromatrix analyst.

“With flat prices not moving out of the range, we think that we will have to wait a few more weeks until the OPEC meeting to maybe find again some sustained momentum,” Jakob said of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has a regular meeting scheduled in Vienna Dec. 4.

The December crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 45¢ to settle at $46.14/bbl on Nov. 2. The January crude oil contract dropped 43¢ to $47.04/bbl.

The NYMEX natural gas contract for December declined 6.5¢ to a rounded $2.26/MMbtu. The Henry Hub, La., gas price fell 2¢ to $1.92/MMbtu.

Heating oil for December delivery dropped nearly a cent to a rounded $1.51/gal. The price for reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenates blending for

December increased by less than a penny to a rounded $1.37/gal.

The December ICE contract for Brent crude was down 77¢ to $48.79/bbl. The January contract also declined by 70¢ to $49.61/bbl. ICE gas oil for November settled at $453.50/tonne, down $1.75.

The average price for the OPEC basket of 12 benchmark crudes for Nov. 2 was $44.01/bbl, up 35¢.

Contact Paula Dittrick at paulad@ogjonline.com.