Finotec News Archive - August 30 2007
Oil Rises Above $73 in N.Y.
Crude oil rose above $73 a barrel in New York to a three-week high after an Energy Department report showed U.S. oil and gasoline inventories fell more than expected.Rodian Rahnayev 
30 August 2007
Print this article
Subscribe to RSS
Crude oil rose above $73 a barrel in New York to a three-week high after an Energy Department report showed U.S. oil and gasoline inventories fell more than expected.
Crude-oil stockpiles fell 3.49 million barrels to 333.6 million in the week ended Aug. 24, the report showed. 800,000 barrel drop was forecast. Prices have fallen 6 percent this month on concern that fuel demand will decline as a credit crunch in the U.S. slows economic growth.
``It would be hard to paint this report as anything other than bullish,'' said Rick Mueller, an analyst with Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. ``The crude- oil decline was much bigger than expected and the gasoline drop was substantial. The market should continue to tighten in the last few weeks of the gasoline season.''
``The numbers send a clear message,'' said Michael Fitzpatrick, vice president for energy risk management at MF Global Ltd, the brokerage unit of Man Group Plc, in New York. ``The market's strength over the last few days shows that fears about the credit crunch hitting demand were overstated. It will be many months before any effect on demand is felt.''
The U.S. crude-oil market often follows gasoline during the summer driving season. U.S. gasoline demand peaks between the Memorial Day holiday in late May and Labor Day in early September.
Refinery operations and crude-oil imports also slumped last week, the report showed. Refineries operated at 90.3 percent of capacity, down 1.4 percentage point from the week before. Analysts expected the report would show no change. Crude-oil imports fell 9.2 percent to an average 9.82 million barrels a day last week.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil, doesn't see a need to increase production at its next meeting on Sept. 11, Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri said yesterday. ``You cannot convince any member to add more crude to the market,'' El-Badri said in an interview in Luanda, Angola.
Finotec Analysis Team
30 August 2007
Print this article