Oil futures end off the session’s low; natural-gas prices rally

Oil futures declined on Monday but settled off the session’s low on renewed worries about tight supplies and production capacity, while natural-gas prices rallied to fresh 14-year highs. The oil market is about as “tight as it’s ever been” with spare production capacity at a historic low, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group. Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas prices have risen to their highs as equivalent prices in Europe surge to new record highs, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. Gazprom said late last week that it would shut down the Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline for three days of maintenance. September WTI crude CLU22, -0.11% declined by 54 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $90.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the contract’s expiration day, after dropping to an intraday low of $86.60. The October contract CLV22, +0.04%, which is now the front month, settled at $90.36, down 8 cents, or nearly 0.1%. September natural gas NGU22, +4.99% rose 34 cents, or 3.7%, to end at $9.68 per million British thermal units.