Oil Futures Prices Advance

Oil futures prices surged past another milepost in their seven-week recovery Monday, exceeding $17 a barrel for the first time since early in February.

“Another wild day with very heavy volume in crude,” said Ed Dellamonte, an analyst in New York with Prudential-Bache Securities. Record volume--an estimated 53,022 contracts--was recorded at the New York Mercantile Exchang

“There was very good refiner interest” for light crude oil in London and in the United States, said Peter Beutel, an analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolff Energy. The lighter crudes yield more gasoline and were in rather tight supply during a recent strike in Norway’s oil industry.

In addition, Beutel said, there was a report of some progress between OPEC and non-OPEC nations agreeing on their shares of world crude production. This was more of a psychological boost than anything else, he said.

“It looked like a bit of a squeeze on the June contract, which goes off the board tomorrow (Tuesday),” said Dellamonte. “The futures market is blowing prices all out of proportion to what they should be.”