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Crude oil prices march to fresh highs
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 03 31 06Oil futures extended their rally Thursday amid ongoing concerns about tight gasoline supplies in the United States and tensions in major crude producers Nigeria and Iran.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose 70 cents to close at 67.15 dollars a barrel.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained 91 cents to 66.46 dollars a barrel in closing deals.
Prices have climbed to their highest level in nearly two months, but Informa Global Markets analyst Peter Luxton said he sees more increases.
"The view is that there could be a supply disruption on both the crude and the products side," he added.
On Wednesday, government data showed US crude oil inventories had rebounded over the past week but supplies of gasoline (petrol) showed a steep decline even as refiners shift to motor supplies for the US summer holiday season.
The Department of Energy reported crude oil reserves rose 2.1 million barrels to 340.7 million barrels in the week to March 24.
Motor gasoline stocks fell by 5.4 million barrels over the week to 216.2 million barrels, the DoE said. The drop was steeper than analysts' estimates.
Although crude oil supplies appear strong, the market is concerned about a pinch in gasoline inventories in the runup to the US summer driving season, the period of highest demand.
"The weekly inventory readings caught the market by surprise again, registering much greater refined products draws than were expected, particularly gasoline," said Mike Fitzpatrick at Fimat USA.
Fitzpatrick said market tensions rose further in the wake of a UN decision demanding that Iran stop uranium enrichment.
"But the UN/Iran conflict will recede a bit in the coming sessions, since the UN won't look back into the situation for 30 days, which now gives Iran a 30 day window to posture," he said.
The market was meanwhile keeping a close watch over major oil producers.
"We've got the UN issuing a 30 day non-binding warning to Iran plus the unrest in Nigeria -- its all adding fuel to the fire," Luxton said.
Nigerian separatist rebels have said their release of three kidnapped oil workers earlier this week was in no way a signal of the end to their violent campaign.
The hostages, two Americans and a Briton, were freed on Monday after being held for more than a month. Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer of crude, has seen output cut by more than 20 percent as a result of attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta.
Regarding Iran, the market is concerned that the world's fourth biggest producer of crude may disrupt its oil exports if punished with sanctions for its disputed nuclear program.
Washington and its European allies believe Iran's civilian nuclear programme hides an effort to develop weapons. Tehran says its program is peaceful and aims to generate electricity.
AFP 30 03 06 2041 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
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