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WORLD / America
Crude oil prices reach new high
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-13 15:35
NEW YORK?-- Crude oil futures prices traded above US$80 a barrel for the
first time Wednesday on shrinking US inventories and storm concerns.
Secretary General of the OPEC conference Abdalla Salem El-Badri from
Libya speaks during a news conference after a meeting of oil ministers of
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries at the OPEC's
headquarters in Vienna, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007. [AP]
Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose as high as US$80.18 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange before it settled at US$79.91 per
barrel. The former intraday high for a front-month contract was US$78.77
a barrel, set on August 1. The former highest-ever settlement price for a
front-month contract was US$78.23 a barrel, which was set on Tuesday.
Unexpected decline in US inventories
"It was very clear for some time now that the demand supply imbalance
would have driven oil to US$80 per barrel. However, the catalyst today
for the actual achievement of that milestone was among other things, the
unexpected decline in inventories as conveyed by this morning's report by
the US Department of Energy," Wall Street Strategies' senior research
analyst Conley Turner told Xinhua.
Crude prices surged Tuesday morning right after the Energy Information
Administration reported a huge draw on the nation's crude inventories.
Crude stockpiles sank by 7.1 million barrels last week, while gasoline
inventories fell by 700,000 barrels. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones
Newswires had expected crude oil inventories fell 2.7 million barrels
while gasoline inventories fell 500,000 barrels last week.
Crude imports fell by 674,000 barrels a day on average last week to 9.56
million barrels, while gasoline imports fell an average of 298,000
barrels a day to 1.02 million barrels a day.
Demand for gasoline averaged about 9.6 million barrels a day over the
last four weeks, about 0.9 percent above last year.
Storm concerns and weak dollar
"The National Hurricane Center has stated that a tropical storm named
Humberto has formed off the coast of Texas and another depression has
formed in the Atlantic. These have the potential to impact offshore oil
producing facilities in the Gulf of Mexico," said Turner.
Tropical storm Humberto formed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico and rain
was already falling along the Gulf Coast with Humberto's center still
about 70 miles south-southwest of Galveston, Texas, the National
Hurricane Center said.
Another tropical depression also formed Wednesday far in the open
Atlantic, about 1,130 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. It had maximum
sustained winds near 35 mph and was moving west-northwest at about 12
mph. Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm later Wednesday.
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