Oil remains below 70 dollars after overnight declines
Thursday, 3 September 2009
SINGAPORE, Sept 2 (AFP): Oil recovered in Asian trade today but was still below 70 dollars amid worries about energy demand, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery was 52 cents higher at 68.57 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery advanced 24 cents to 67.97 dollars.
The two contracts closed lower Tuesday, mirroring losses in global equities markets on investor concerns over the pace of recovery in the US and China, the world's top two energy users.
Crude prices briefly hit 75 dollars a barrel last week, its highest level in 10 months, but soon fell as analysts questioned the strength of underlying supply- demand forces.
"Inventory levels are still very high and there is a lot of spare OPEC capacity so the supply crunch is definitely not imminent," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
"Oil simply would not hold above 75 dollars because investors started to focus a lot more on the fundamentals," he said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery was 52 cents higher at 68.57 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery advanced 24 cents to 67.97 dollars.
The two contracts closed lower Tuesday, mirroring losses in global equities markets on investor concerns over the pace of recovery in the US and China, the world's top two energy users.
Crude prices briefly hit 75 dollars a barrel last week, its highest level in 10 months, but soon fell as analysts questioned the strength of underlying supply- demand forces.
"Inventory levels are still very high and there is a lot of spare OPEC capacity so the supply crunch is definitely not imminent," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
"Oil simply would not hold above 75 dollars because investors started to focus a lot more on the fundamentals," he said.