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| Crude Oil Jumps to $40.33 a barrel on Terrorist Election Warning |
| 2004-07-09 |
| Crude oil prices in New York surged above $40 US a barrel Thursday for the first time in more than a month after the Department of Homeland Security signalled terrorists were scheming to disrupt the U.S. elections this fall. The rally reinforced the market’s pattern of buying whenever terrorism worries surface, despite government data showing across-the-board builds in petroleum inventories last week. "Credible reporting now indicates that al-Qaida is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday at a press conference. August crude futures jumped $1.25, or three per cent, to settle at $40.33 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The rally was fed by a technical rise earlier as prices neared the $40 benchmark, as well as a slimmer-than-expected rise in U.S. commercial oil inventories and the highest gasoline demand in four weeks. Crude and products prices initially fell on a larger-than-anticipated rise in distillate stocks and an unexpected increase in gasoline stocks last week, as reported by the federal Energy Information Administration, but rose again shortly after. Crude inventories rose only slightly on an uptick in refinery utilization, despite imports holding above 10 million barrels a day for the seventh-straight week, staging a record. The weekly data were delayed one day in observance of last week’s Independence Day holiday, which left markets closed Monday. On the Nymex, August heating oil rose 2.30 cents to $1.1021 per gallon; August gasoline rose 5.43 cents to $1.3278 per gallon, the highest closing price in more than a month. August natural gas fell 18.5 cents to $6.185 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, August Brent futures closed at $37.77 a barrel, up $1.16, on the International Petroleum Exchange. The online source for news sports entertainment finance and business news in Canada |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |