|
SINGAPORE: Oil prices eased in Asian trade Wednesday ahead of a
weekly report on US energy stockpiles and after OPEC’s president
rebuffed calls for the cartel to boost output.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light
sweet crude for August delivery, fell 19 cents to $136.81 a barrel
after rising 26 cents to close at $137.00 a barrel in New York on
Tuesday.
Brent North Sea crude for August eased six cents
to $136.40 following a climb of 55 cents to $136.46 in London.
Oil prices have almost doubled over the past
year and last week both contracts struck intraday highs near $140 a
barrel.
The soaring crude costs, in a market facing
tight supply, have triggered protests in several countries and fears
for global economic growth.
Traders will be watching for supply signals in
the weekly US Department of Energy report on inventories of crude,
due out later Wednesday.
“People are waiting for the US inventory
data,” said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager with Astmax asset
management in Tokyo.
Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil exporter in
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel,
said at a weekend summit of oil consumers and producers that it was
raising daily output by more than 200,000 barrels to 9.7 million.
But Emori said the move was not really affecting
the price of crude.
Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov stressed that
“overall, the market remains well supported, despite Saudi
Arabia’s promise to pump more oil.”
The Saudi output increase, to counter the fears
of inflation-hit consumers, exposed divisions within OPEC at the
summit.
OPEC president Chakib Khelil and others were
opposed to increasing production.
“OPEC has already done what OPEC can do and
prices will not come down,” Khelil said Tuesday as he arrived for
a meeting with European Union energy officials in Brussels.
Consuming nations have been calling for OPEC to
pump more oil. The cartel produces about 40 percent of the world’s
crude.
Khelil blamed high prices on the US “subprime
crisis and the ensuing impact of the dollar devaluation and the
influx of funds that were looking for good returns that they could
not find in other investments.”
He estimated that hedge fund zeal for positions
in the oil market added $40 to crude prices.
“Other member countries don’t want to
increase their production because, as they’ve said many times,
from our perspective we don’t see any shortage in the market,”
OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said.
Emori said unrest in Nigeria continues to be an
important factor in the market.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said its offshore
Bonga oilfield in Nigeria was running again Tuesday after an attack
by militants last week halted production.
After the unprecedented raid, Shell had said it
could not promise to deliver 225,000 barrels per day for June and
July.
Militants also blew up a key Nigerian Chevron
supply pipeline late last week, forcing the US oil giant to shut
operations, halting output by 120,000 barrels per day, an industry
source said.
-- AFP
|
