  |
|
Oil lower in Asian trade after US Thanksgiving holiday
AFP
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com 11 24 06
Oil prices were lower in Asian trade Friday as the market got going again after the US Thanksgiving holiday with few new factors to inspire activity, dealers said.
At 2:00 pm (0600 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery was at 59.11 US dollars a barrel, down 13 cents from closing levels in New York Wednesday. Markets in the United States were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.
Brent North Sea crude for January fell 13 cents to 59.22 dollars.
"We are not going to see a lot of direction in the market. It will be subdued trading," said Tobin Gorey, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"You can trade either way without really causing either side of the market any particular worries."
A jump in US crude oil stockpiles was also an assurance of ample supply ahead of the northern hemisphere winter season, dealers said.
The market is now closely watching OPEC's next move to shore up prices following comments by Venezuela that the oil cartel will cut output again at its next meeting in Nigeria in December.
The new cut "will be proposed ... because (the oil) price remains unstable," Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Venezolana television on Wednesday.
"In December there will be consensus to continue acting on volume," he said, without indicating any numbers.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided last month to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day from November in order to support weakening prices, which have shed around 20 dollars since last August.
OPEC President Edmond Daukoru, Nigeria's oil minister, told a newspaper that the cartel's members were likely to back a fresh production cut next month.
"I have no doubt that there is going to be a cut in supply," Daukoru told the newspaper This Day in Nigeria.
Daukoru's comments followed those of Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, who had earlier suggested that OPEC would approve a further output cut at its ministerial meeting in Abuja, Nigeria on December 14.
AFP 24 0610 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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