Petroleum Futures Advance

Petroleum futures posted across-the-board gains Thursday with cold weather boosting product prices.

“It was a hectic day,” said Peter Beutel of Elders Futures Inc., in New York.

In other markets, livestock and meat futures prices were mixed to sharply higher, grain was mostly lower and soybeans higher, precious metals nudged ahead and coffee continued on the decline.

Downside pressure on petroleum futures came on the heels of reports that Saudi Arabian oil minister Hisham Nazer and his Iranian counterpart, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, would not attend today’s meeting of the pricing committee of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Profit-taking at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in both the cattle and hog pits near the close trimmed gains.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil settled 16 cents to 18 cents higher, with the contract for delivery in December at $15.51 a barrel; heating oil was 0.45 cent to 1.45 cents higher, with December at 45.34 cents a gallon, and unleaded gasoline was 0.20 cent to .70 cent higher, with December at 42.28 cents a gallon.