Crude settles below $96/barrel

Prices lost almost 0.2% for the week Crude Oil futures finished below $96 a barrel on Friday, 16 Februry 2013 at Nymex, pressured by strength in the dollar as traders reviewed the week's economic data for hints on the outlook for energy demand. Light and sweet crude Oil for March delivery sank $1.45, or 1.5%, to settle at $95.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices lost almost 0.2% for the week. Comments from this weekend's G20 summit taking place in Russia have begun making the rounds. Earlier, Jens Weidmann of Germany's Bundesbank said the euro is not overvalued and the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is not talking down the common currency. Meanwhile, Mr. Draghi said euro exchange rate is not a policy target for the central bank. Friday was heavy in terms of economic data. Contributing to the early strength was an upbeat January consumer sentiment survey from the University of Michigan. According to the preliminary reading, the survey rose to 76.3 from its prior reading of 73.8. Today's report surprised to the upside as market had expected the survey would climb to 73.5. Looking at the day's remaining economic data, January industrial production decreased 0.1%, which was worse than the 0.2% uptick that had been expected. Meanwhile, capacity utilization hit 79.1%, which was better than the 78.9% expected. February Empire Manufacturing Survey climbed to 10.0 from its prior reading of -7.8. The report was a positive surprise as market expected the survey to rise to 0.0. In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.2%. Among major energy products on Friday, March heating oil ended at $3.21 a gallon, down 1 cent, or 0.4%, down 0.9% than a week ago. Gasoline's March contract settled up nearly 2 cents, or 0.6%, at $3.135 a gallon. For the week, prices were up 2.5%. March natural gas fell 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $3.15 per million British thermal units, down 3.6% for the week.