World
  |
|
Oil prices fall on profit taking in Asian trade
AFP
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com 02 14 06Oil prices fell on profit-taking in Asian trade Wednesday after an international energy watchdog raised its estimate for demand this year, dealers said.
At 2:24 pm (0624 GMT) New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was 12 cents lower at 58.94 dollars a barrel from 59.06 dollars in late US trades Tuesday.
Brent crude for April delivery was 28 cents lower at 58.55 dollars.
Mark Pervan, senior resources analyst with Daiwa Securities in Melbourne, said the price fall stemmed from profit-taking in a market that remained well-supported.
He said the market continued to closely watch cold weather in the northeastern United States.
"I think that's probably the major driver," Pervan said. "You're not going to see prices falling too far" until the onset of warmer spring weather.
Prices gained on Tuesday after the Paris-based International Energy Agency said oil consumption had dropped in industrialized countries for the first time in two decades but was rising strongly in emerging economies.
In its monthly oil market report the agency, which represents the interests of consumer countries, raised its forecast for global oil demand this year by 273,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 86 million bpd, citing a major revision to estimates of China's needs.
Dealers were also looking ahead to the weekly update later Wednesday from the US Department of Energy on the country's energy stockpiles.
Participants believed that freezing weather in the United States -- the world's biggest energy consumer -- will have eaten into stocks of distillates, which include heating fuel.
As a result, the market expects US distillate reserves fell by 4.0 million barrels in the week ending February 9.
Pervan said Tuesday's breakthrough agreement aimed at ending North Korea's controversial nuclear programme would have no direct influence on the oil market.
"There's no oil, really, in North Korea," he said.
AFP 14 0639 GMT 02 07
Copyright© 1999 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