Energy Prices Steady Ahead of Supply Data

Energy prices were range-bound ahead of a key inventory report Thursday from the U.S. Energy Department.

Analysts were divided over whether the department’s report of current supplies of petroleum and petroleum products would be up or down.

High-quality crude oil for February delivery was off 19 cents to $59.63 a barrel, while natural gas was down 14.80 cents to $11.489 per million Btu.

Heating oil was steady at $1.683 per gallon, and gasoline hovered in a tight range around $1.59 per gallon.