Oil price rise on bargain hunting
February 18, 2005
Singapore - Crude futures rebounded in thin trade Friday on the back of bargain-hunting by traders following a drop in prices the day before.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Mymex, prices rose by 16 cents to $47.70 a barrel at 0400 GMT, rolling back part of Thursday's 79 cent decline. Heating oil prices also rose Friday, but by less than 1 cent to $1.3135 a gallon.
Victor Shum, oil analyst at Purvin & Gertz, an energy consultant agency, said that trading volumes will remain sluggish until President's Day in the United States. The holiday falls on February 21.
"Because of the public holiday, we can expect trading volume to be thin for the next few days," Shum said.
Prices had surged Wednesday following a prediction from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or Opec, that daily global demand would rise to 83.8 million barrels this year, a 5
percent increase on the group's estimate last month.
Oil prices have been rising on most days over the past week on worries that Opec - which controls 40 percent of world oil exports - might cut production at its March 16 meeting in Isfahan, Iran.
Opec acting Secretary-General Adnan Shihab Eldin has said the group may cut up to 1 million barrels a day. But Nigeria and fellow Opec member Algeria have suggested no major reductions are needed.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, oil demand in the United States averaged nearly 21.1 million barrels per day over the last month, 3 percent above last year's level. Crude stocks were at 296.4 million barrels per day for the week ending Feb. 11, up 22.6 million barrels per day from a year ago.
While Nymex crude oil prices remain about $7 lower than the all-time closing high of $55.17 set in late October, they are nearly 40 percent higher than a year ago. - Sapa-AP
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