NYMEX Gas       $1.9952 UP $.0279

Oil futures ended higher Monday, shaking off earlier gains, with traders expecting shipping delays to persist, even as one of the world’s largest container vessels has been freed in the Suez Canal. The ship had run aground nearly a week ago, blocking the flow of global trade goods, including crude oil, through the crucial waterway. “The release of the tanker frees the bottleneck allowing awaiting oil and petroleum products” to pass through, but “there will still be a delay in their arrival,” said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics. He also said “many of the vessels are empty returning to Europe to pick up cargoes,” so “we can expect congestion in European ports for a while.” Freight rates should “normalize in a few weeks and we will see a bit of downward pressure on crude and product prices,” said Williams. The Suez Canal Authority announced on Monday that the container ship, known as the Ever Given, was successfully refloated. The vessel was moving north to an anchor point, and shipping traffic began to move Monday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, noting that over 360 vessels were waiting to pass through the canal.