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Oil prices trading around $80 on latest US inventory data
Published on March 4, 2010 by oilprices · No CommentsCrude oil prices are trading up around the $80 plus mark on Thursday after a two day jump fueled by growing investor optimism that global crude oil demand is recovering.
US Light crude oil futures for April delivery was down 23 cents to $80.64 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the NYMEX, while in London, Brent crude oil futures stands at $79.09 on the ICE Futures Exchange.
The latest US inventory data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration was mixed, with crude and gasoline supplies rising and distillates, which include deisel and heating oil, falling. Some analysts have been expecting deisel demand to improve as the economy grows.
“The oil market is now very close to entering a new phase of price dynamics. The pressure has been building for a convincing break above 80 dollars per barrel,” Barclay Capital analysts said in a client note.
The analysts said that US official revisions of December energy data showed “a more positive dynamic in US demand” than was evident in the weekly data.
“We forecast a 150,000 barrel per day increase in overall US demand this year, but see the recent surge in Asian demand as being more important as a driver of the shift up in prices.”
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