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SINGAPORE: Oil prices came back higher Wednesday
following a steep fall in the face of warnings from world leaders
that record highs were challenging economic growth, dealers said.
New York’s main oil futures
contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, rose $1.08 to
$137.12 a barrel. The contract tumbled by $5.33 to close at $136.04
at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.
Brent North Sea oil for August
delivery rose 97 cents to $137.40 following a plunge of $5.44 to
$136.43 Tuesday in London.
The Group of Eight (G8) rich
nations said it was ready to take action to cushion global growth
from runaway energy costs, but stopped short of announcing concrete
steps at a summit in Japan. (See related front-page story.)
The G8—Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States—expressed
“strong concern” about oil and food prices, which they said
“pose a serious challenge to stable growth worldwide.”
Oil prices have roughly doubled
over the past year and have sparked protests around the world.
“The people at the G8 were very
forceful about how high oil prices could curb economic growth,”
which traders fear could lead to lower demand for oil, said David
Johnson, an oil analyst at Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday G8 leaders held an
expanded summit that brought in energy-thirsty China and India as
well as other key developing nations.
Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said
many economies face a bleak economic outlook “which could reduce
the demand for oil, especially at current prices.”
The London Brent contract hit an
all-time peak of $146.69 and New York crude struck a record high of
$145.85 last Thursday.
Johnson said prices continued to
receive support from the “war of words” over Iran’s nuclear
program.
Oil traders were also awaiting a
weekly report on energy stockpiles in the United States to be
released later Wednesday.
--AFP
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