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Oil prices fell further on Wednesday as the market
expected Hurricane Dolly to avoid energy installations in the Gulf
of Mexico, traders said.
The market was also awaiting the
latest weekly update on the health of crude stockpiles in the United
States, the world’s biggest consumer of energy. Falling
inventories could see prices rebound, they added.
New York’s main contract, light
sweet crude for September delivery, dropped by $1.57 to $126.85 a
barrel in electronic deals.
The August contract expired on
Tuesday at $127.95, a long way off its historic high of $147.50 that
had been set on July 11.
Also Wednesday in early London
trading, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery shed $1.77 to
$127.78 per barrel.
Hurricane Dolly churned over the
Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday toward the US-Mexican border, forcing
thousands in Mexico to evacuate their homes as US oilrigs put staff
ashore and the American Navy sheltered aircraft.
Packing sustained winds of 130
kilometers per hour, the second hurricane of the season was about
140 kilometers southeast of the Texas border town of Brownsville,
the US National Hurricane Center said.
The storm was moving northwest at
15 kilometers per hour, the center said at 0600 GMT (2 a.m.
Wednesday in Manila).
Some oil drilling companies in
the area have evacuated personnel from their offshore rigs as a
precaution.
The US Department of Energy was
to publish weekly energy stockpiles data at 1430 GMT (10 p.m.
Wednesday in Manila).
--AFP
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