Oil mixed in Asian trade amid demand concerns
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
SINGAPORE, Sept 7 (AFP): Oil was mixed in Asian trade today as worries about US energy demand capped investor sentiment, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, dropped 10 cents to 67.92 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery was one cent up at 66.83 dollars a barrel.
The latest US jobs data released Friday, which showed a jump in the unemployment rate, was a reminder that energy demand would likely remain weak in the world's biggest energy user, analysts said.
The US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate climbed to 9.7 percent with 216,000 jobs lost in August from 9.4 percent and a revised 276,000 jobs lost in July.
Most analysts had expected 230,000 job losses and an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent in August.
The United States, in recession since December 2007, is seen as key to lifting global oil demand, which has been hit by the worldwide economic slump.
OPEC, whose 12 members pump 40 percent of the world's oil, agreed in late 2008 to remove 4.2 million barrels of daily output from the market as it sought to prop up crumbling prices.
But the cartel's official daily output quota has stood at 24.84 million barrels per day since January.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, dropped 10 cents to 67.92 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery was one cent up at 66.83 dollars a barrel.
The latest US jobs data released Friday, which showed a jump in the unemployment rate, was a reminder that energy demand would likely remain weak in the world's biggest energy user, analysts said.
The US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate climbed to 9.7 percent with 216,000 jobs lost in August from 9.4 percent and a revised 276,000 jobs lost in July.
Most analysts had expected 230,000 job losses and an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent in August.
The United States, in recession since December 2007, is seen as key to lifting global oil demand, which has been hit by the worldwide economic slump.
OPEC, whose 12 members pump 40 percent of the world's oil, agreed in late 2008 to remove 4.2 million barrels of daily output from the market as it sought to prop up crumbling prices.
But the cartel's official daily output quota has stood at 24.84 million barrels per day since January.