Oil
prices dip on profit-taking
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com
02 27 06
World oil prices fell on Monday on profit-taking after spiking
above 62.0 dollars at the end of last week on concerns about supply.
Dealers noted that the oil market was setting aside geopolitical
tensions following data last week showing a build in energy stockpiles
in the United States.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April,
slid 95 cents to 61.96 dollars per barrel in electronic deals.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery
shed 1.02 dollars to 61.58 dollars per barrel.
"Some people look at this as a chance to sell, they are getting
tired of the geopolitical factors -- how much can that affect
the market when the inventories are high," said Tony Nunan,
a manager for energy risk management with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.
"People are focusing on the immediate concerns and there
is no shortage of oil right now. There may be a shortage soon
but not right now."
The US Department of Energy had revealed last Thursday that crude
oil reserves rose by 1.1 million barrels to 326.7 million in the
week to February 17, bigger than the 700,000-barrel increase expected
by analysts.
Crude stocks in the US, the world's biggest consumer of energy,
are some 10.0 percent higher than at the same stage last year.
Oil prices in New York had spiked by more than 2.0 dollars on
Friday after an attempt by the Al Qaeda terror network to blow
up a major Saudi Arabian oil processing plant re-ignited concerns
of crude oil supply disruptions.
The kingdom, which sits on a quarter of global oil reserves, currently
pumps around 9.5 million barrels of oil per day and has an output
capacity of 11 million bpd.
The foiled bid in Saudi Arabia had contributed to existing tensions
affecting the oil market, including the insurgency situation in
Iraq and unrest in Nigeria, South Africa's biggest oil producer.
AFP
02 27 06
Copyright
© 2006 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
| 
