Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday after the US government reported a spectacular rise in crude stockpiles last week, driving home the lack of demand in the the world's biggest energy consumer.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for March, fell 46 cents to close at 40.32 dollars a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March rose seven cents to settle at 44.15 dollars a barrel.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) said that crude stockpiles soared by 7.2 million barrels last week, more than double the 2.9 million barrels forecast by analysts.
It was the fifth consecutive week of gains, and the sharp rise underlined slack demand amid the global financial crisis that has brought the world economy to a near-halt.
Analysts noted that oil demand was still falling despite production cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"So far, OPEC's significant cut in its quota, taking effect in January, has yet to have any impact upon US inventories," said Thierry Lefrancois, an analyst at Natixis.
"Comments from OPEC members speculating about the prospect for further cuts in output suggest a low expectation that the cuts to date will have any material impact," he said.
The OPEC cartel signalled last week that it would consider more output cuts to bolster a market faced with tumbling energy demand.
Market watchers say the cartel could try to reach an agreement for another output reduction at its next meeting, on March 15 in Vienna.
OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, late last year announced output reductions totalling 4.2 million barrels per day in an attempt to defend tumbling prices.
Crude futures had won some support on Tuesday from strikes at refineries and a cold snap in Western Europe, but gains were capped by concern about the impact of the economic slowdown.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for March, fell 46 cents to close at 40.32 dollars a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March rose seven cents to settle at 44.15 dollars a barrel.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) said that crude stockpiles soared by 7.2 million barrels last week, more than double the 2.9 million barrels forecast by analysts.
It was the fifth consecutive week of gains, and the sharp rise underlined slack demand amid the global financial crisis that has brought the world economy to a near-halt.
Analysts noted that oil demand was still falling despite production cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"So far, OPEC's significant cut in its quota, taking effect in January, has yet to have any impact upon US inventories," said Thierry Lefrancois, an analyst at Natixis.
"Comments from OPEC members speculating about the prospect for further cuts in output suggest a low expectation that the cuts to date will have any material impact," he said.
The OPEC cartel signalled last week that it would consider more output cuts to bolster a market faced with tumbling energy demand.
Market watchers say the cartel could try to reach an agreement for another output reduction at its next meeting, on March 15 in Vienna.
OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, late last year announced output reductions totalling 4.2 million barrels per day in an attempt to defend tumbling prices.
Crude futures had won some support on Tuesday from strikes at refineries and a cold snap in Western Europe, but gains were capped by concern about the impact of the economic slowdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment