Commodities Monday, Feb. 23, 1987 : Energy Futures Prices Off

Energy futures prices declined sharply Monday on growing doubts about the workability of OPEC production controls.

On other markets, coffee and cotton futures posted strong gains, wheat was off sharply, other grains and soybeans were lower and precious metals declined. “It was a very weak day for oil all around,” said Richard Marose, an analyst in Chicago for Stotler & Co. Heating oil and gasoline particularly were big losers at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The market was disappointed with results of a weekend meeting involving Persian Gulf members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Marose.

“Going into the meeting on Friday there was speculation that they would come up with new proposals to shore up sagging prices,” said Marose. Crude oil futures were approaching $19 a barrel toward the end of January but slipped below $17.50 last week.

The meeting of Gulf producers, however, fell short of expectations. “Basically all they did was say they want tighter controls and tighter monitoring, but they were not calling for any new production cuts,” Marose said.