World
Institutional
links
Welcome back on
26 -29 August,
ONS 2008
Bridging
the energy gap
is ONS 2006 theme,
from 22-25 August,
in Stavanger, Norway
Petroleumworld
Business
Partners:
Centre for
Global Energy
Studies
  |
Oil prices shadow 102 dollars ahead of OPEC meeting
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com, Mar 03, 2008Oil prices hovered around 102 dollars in Asian trading Monday ahead of an OPEC meeting in which the cartel is expected to maintain current output levels, dealers said.
In afternoon trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, rose 15 cents to 101.99 dollars per barrel.
The contract closed at 101.84 dollars a barrel during floor trading on Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
London's Brent North Sea crude for April delivery gained 24 cents to 100.34 dollars per barrel.
Prices are trading in a narrow range because "there has been no major news to affect prices," said Jason Feer, vice-president of energy market analysts Argus Media Ltd in Singapore.
Aside from Wednesday's OPEC meeting, "the market is waiting for something to happen right now that is worth paying attention to," said Feer.
The 13 members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), who together pump 40 percent of the world's oil, are due to meet Wednesday in Vienna to decide on current daily output level, which is currently set at 29.67 million barrels per day.
" Either we hold (output) steady or we cut in order to restore market balance and stability," OPEC President Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, said in a statement.
OPEC members Iran and Venezuela are calling on the cartel to cut production, arguing that prices are likely to slide when demand for crude drops during the second quarter.
While expected to maintain production output, Feer said that OPEC members will be taking a "hard look" at prices and softening demand from the US and China.
The March-June period coincides with warmer temperatures in the energy-hungry northern hemisphere, thus reducing demand for heating fuel.
Oil prices struck a record-high 100 dollars at the start of January, and on Friday the price of New York crude hit a fresh peak of 103.05 dollars per barrel.
Story by Sebastian Smith from AFP
AFP 03 0626 GMT 03 08Copyright© 2008 respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.
We welcome the use of Petroleumworld™ stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors.
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