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| Oil price soars on supply rumours |
| 2008-12-15 |
| THE price of New York crude oil has soared above $US50 per barrel for the first time in two weeks as the market was driven by expectations that OPEC will cut crude output this week, traders say. Light sweet crude for delivery in January delivery jumped to $US50.05 per barrel, hitting the highest level since December 1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). On London's InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for January leapt as high as $US49.96 a barrel, which was also a two-week pinnacle. "Crude prices pushed higher on hopes of hefty supply cuts by OPEC," said Nimit Khamar, analyst at the Sucden brokerage in London. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Oran, Algeria, on Wednesday and is widely forecast to slash output in the hope of lifting prices weighed down by mounting global recession worries. OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri told reporters on his arrival in Oran that he would like to see "a very sizeable cut" in crude oil production, adding that "the market is oversupplied with oil". |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 FT.com just let out a story about 50million bbls. being stored in floating armadas of oil tankers. Now the price is coming right back down, $44.50 last I looked. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-12-15 23:32 |
| #1 OPEC will have a hard time holding to any large production cuts. Too many of the cohorts have grown to depend on high oil prices and need money badly. OPEC has no good method to control it's members. They're on the honor system. Looks to me like now is a good time to sell oil futures. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-12-15 12:17 |