West Texas Intermediate oil in New York fluctuated after operators said the Seaway pipeline won’t be able to carry projected volumes in the “foreseeable future.” The WTI discount to Brent narrowed on changes to North Sea crude pricing.

WTI traded in a 91-cent-a-barrel range. Enterprise Product Partners LP said Seaway isn’t able to move a planned capacity of 400,000 barrels a day. Surging U.S. output has led to the development of rail routes to make up for the Seaway delays. Platts, which publishes world oil price assessments, proposed changes to its North Sea pricing formula less than two weeks after Royal Dutch Shell Plc changed its own trading contract.

Oil in New York rose as much as 0.3 percent earlier on a report that showed rising investor confidence in Germany, the world’s fifth biggest crude importing country. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations climbed to highest in almost three years.

WTI futures for March delivery, which expire tomorrow, traded in a range of $95.25 -  $96.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent oil for April settlement dropped 45 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $116.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. 

The price of gold down the fourth consecutive session, despite buying in the physical market of Asia after the holidays in China. Last week, prices fell by 3 percent, and Chinese traders began to actively buy depreciating gold back after the holidays, making the volume of transactions on the Shanghai Gold Exchange on Monday reached a record. Rising prices also hindered the strengthening of the dollar, has risen to more than one month maximum to a basket of currencies. Demand in the physical market of Asia rose after the New Year holidays in China. Investors are waiting for publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve System, in order to understand its relation to financial incentives, which became one of the most important growth factors in gold prices in recent years. April futures price of gold on COMEX today dropped to 1603.70 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

Oil $95.34 -1.27 -1.30%

Gold 1,608.00 -1.50 -0.09%