Publicité
Oil near 3-week high, US fuel stocks set to drop
Par
Partager cet article
Oil near 3-week high, US fuel stocks set to drop
Oil prices were strong on Tuesday, with US crude above $33 a barrel on expectations that weekly data will show another fall in US fuel stocks at a time when the world?s biggest oil consumer heads into the depths of winter.
The market had briefly fallen on Monday after the arrest of Saddam Hussein encouraged hopes for a more peaceful Iraq and an increase in its oil exports, but it rapidly became clear that there was to be no quick solution to the violence. The US military said it killed 11 Iraqi guerrillas who had tried to ambush its troops in a town north of Baghdad on Monday, while on Tuesday three US soldiers were injured by a bomb in Saddam?s hometown of Tikrit.
US light crude rose a single cent to $33.19 a barrel, hovering just below a three-week high struck on Monday at $33.32 and marking a gain of nine percent so far in December.
London?s Brent crude futures gained eight cents to $30.40 a barrel.
Analysts said speculators were pushing prices higher although the supply and demand outlook also remained generally supportive.
?I don?t know how bullish I can be at these price levels,? said Katsunori Watanabe, research director at Nihon Unicom Corp in Tokyo.
A weekly US government report due to be released on Wednesday was expected to show a decline in national crude inventories in the week to December 12.
Analysts polled by Reuters saw crude stocks falling by an average 1.7 million barrels as refiners stepped up winter heating oil production.
If the forecast holds, it will be the fourth straight week that US crude stocks have fallen. In the three weeks to December 5, stockpiles declined by a total 16.1 million barrels.
Analysts also forecast stocks of distillates, which include key winter heating oil, to drop by 1.3 million barrels.
The unseasonable cold that has boosted heating oil demand in the US Northeast is expected to continue to the end of the month, AccuWeather forecaster Joe Bastardi said on Monday.
?This is one of the top three coldest first two weeks of December in more than 30 years in the Northeast,? Bastardi said. ?It is also one of the snowiest.?
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
