Oil
prices show slight fall ahead of US stocks figures
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 02 01 06
International oil prices fell Tuesday after reassuring comments
from Iranian oil officials and ahead of the publication of latest
US reserves figures.
In New York, the benchmark light sweet crude closed 43 cents lower
on the day at 67.92 dollars a barrel. In London, Brent crude fell
60 cents to 65.99 dollars a barrel.
Bill O'Grady, an analyst with A.G. Edwards, said much of the fall
was due to "position squaring" ahead of the release
of the weekly Department of Energy figures on reserves of oil
and petrol on Wednesday.
Most analysts expect a rise in the reserves.
He added that comments by the Iranian oil minister had also given
a "bearish tone" to early trading.
Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said at an Organisation
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna that
a mounting dispute over Iran's nuclear programme should not affect
its exports.
"There is no link between the oil and the nuclear issue,"
he told reporters. "We have no reason to stop our exports."
Fears that Iran would cut production if it was referred to the
UN Security Council have hit oil markets in recent weeks.
OPEC also confirmed its production quota would remain unchanged
at 28 million barrels a day.
Iran, the world's fourth largest producer, had last week called
for a one million barrel a day cut in output from April. It had
also warned of a possible oil crisis if the United Nations imposed
sanctions.
Despite the minister's comments, analysts are not predicting a
major fall in prices in the short term.
In London, Prudential analyst Jim Ritterbusch said prices have
eased "now that the OPEC factor has been defined and because
some of the uncertainty related to the Iran nuclear situation
has been removed".
With oil prices having gained some 10 percent since the start
of the year on tensions in Iran and Nigeria, the risk premium
is already contained in the current price level, analysts said.
"The OPEC meeting provided no surprises," said Ritterbusch.
"However, another round of talks is scheduled for March and
the possibility of a production cut at that meeting, although
remote, could provide a price floor during the coming month."
AFP
01/31/06
Copyright
© 2006 OPEC AFP. All rights reserved
Send
this story to a friend
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write
to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels
| 
