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ICE Brent oil price up 70 percent in 2009, nears $80 barrel
Published on December 30, 2009 by oilprices · No CommentsBrent oil prices rose on Wednesday nearing the $80 a barrel mark, extending recent gains and is up around 70 percent from it’s 2009 lows. ICE Brent crude oil futures added 27 cents to reach $77.91 a barrel in quiet trading.
The US government’s Department of Energy (DoE) will later publish its regular update on crude oil inventories for the week ending December 25. Brent oil prices advanced on Tuesday on expectations of a large drop in stockpiles in the US, which is the world’s biggest energy consuming nation.
Market expectations are that US reserves of distillates, which include diesel and heating fuel, fell by 2.1 million barrels last week, according to analysts. Stockpiles of crude oil are forecast to slide by 1.7 million barrels, but petrol inventories are seen rising by 400,000.
Oil has rallied 13% over the past two weeks and have gained more than $32 so far this year, or 70%, though still about 46% below record highs above $147 hit in July 2008.
“In anticipation of this week’s API and EIA data, investors were expecting some pretty substantial drawdowns, not just in oil products but also in crude as refiners increased their operations,” said Ben Westmore, commodities economist at National Australia Bank.
“A very rosy outlook had been pictured in the expectations for a crude drawdown rather than an increase in crude stocks, and so you had this moderation in the oil price.”