LONDON : World oil prices hovered close to record high points
approaching US$55 a barrel as traders fretted about low inventories
of US heating fuel heading into winter in the northern
hemisphere.
The price of reference light sweet crude for delivery in November
eased 17 cents to 54.59 dollars a barrel in electronic trading on
the New York Mercantile Exchange.
New York's main oil contract soared to an all-time intra-day high
of 54.88 dollars a barrel Thursday, also reaching a record closing
price of 54.76, a rise of 1.12 dollars.
In London Brent North Sea crude oil for November delivery lost nine
cents to 50.00 dollars in electronic deals on Friday. It had hit a
record 51.50 dollars a barrel on Tuesday.
New York's oil price raced to a record high Thursday as news of a
decline in US heating oil inventories rattled traders with colder
weather approaching.
Inventories of distillates -- mostly diesel and heating oil --
dropped 2.5 million barrels to 120.9 million in the week to October
8, showing the effect of production and refinery problems in the
Gulf of Mexico caused by recent hurricanes, the US Energy
Department said.
Heating oil inventories, in high demand in the northern hemisphere
winter, declined 1.2 million barrels to 50.0 million. Diesel fell
2.1 million barrels to 68.2 million.
"Distillate stocks (at) 8.1-percent lower than last year feed fears
of heating oil shortages this winter," Societe Generale analyst
Deborah White said.
World oil prices have more than doubled from about 20 dollars a
barrel in New York at the start of 2002, surging by about 65
percent since the start of this year.
Adjusted for inflation, however, they remain far below the levels
reached in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution when prices
surged to upwards of 80 dollars a barrel in today's money.
