Oil prices head back toward $90

FE Team | Published: October 26, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Internet): Oil prices surged within touching distance of record highs after an unexpected fall in US crude stockpiles fanned winter supply fears.
US light sweet crude added $1.62 to $88.72, having earlier touched $89, and is now back within reach of the $90.07 peak that it hit last week.
Meanwhile, London Brent was up $1.59 at $85.96, having hit a record $86.28.
Tensions along the Iraqi border between Turkey and Kurdish rebels have also played a part in the price rally.
US crude oil stocks fell by 5.3 million barrels last week, government data showed, when analysts had been expecting a rise in inventory.
Prices had retreated from last week's high, after concerns about the health of the US economy and expectations of more output from Opec.
A weaker US dollar makes oil a more attractive investment for holders of other currencies.
News by bdnews24.com adds, soaring oil prices are threatening the future of millions of Asia's poor and forcing them into further poverty, according to a report released in Bangkok Thursday by the UN Development Programme.
"Oil prices have tripled over the last four years. Today the price is approaching $90 a barrel," said the report.
"This has meant that the Asia and Pacific region has had to pay an additional bill of almost $400 billion for imports, compared to the amount spent in 2003," the report continued.
Hafiz Pasha, UNDP regional director for the Asia and Pacific region, spoke at the launch of the report in Bangkok.
"This additional bill is 20 times the annual aid flow to the region."
"It has become a real issue for an otherwise fast-growing region to absorb this staggeringly large bill," added Pasha.
Piyasvasti Amranand, the Thailand's minister for energy, signaled an alternative solution to the crises at the launch.
"This time around, the price of oil has gone up so much that we are seeing renewable technologies developing and materializing. These new technologies will be beneficial to everyone," Amranand said.
Interviews conducted for the report among poor rural and urban households in China, India, Indonesia and Laos reveal that rising oil prices are starting to put a brake on human development and in some cases shifting it into reverse.
Between 2002 and 2005, the households interviewed suffered dramatic price increases, paying on average 74 percent more for their energy needs over the period.
This included 171 percent more for cooking fuels; 120 percent more for transportation; 67 percent more for electricity; and 55 percent more for lighting fuels.