Bourse

Bourse

Oil prices stuck at $68

07 September 2009 07:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil traded near $68 a barrel on speculation OPEC will maintain output limits as supplies stay ample at the end of the U.S. peak summer season.
All the 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted the group will maintain its production target at 24.845 million barrels a day at the Sept. 9 meeting in Vienna. U.S. crude stockpiles are at 343.4 million barrels, above their five-year average of 323 million. Diesel and heating oil supplies are at the highest since 1983.
Crude oil for October delivery was at $68.16 a barrel, up 14 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:04 p.m. Singapore time. Earlier it fell as much as 0.7 percent to $67.54 a barrel.

The contract posted a 6.5 percent decline last week, the biggest since the week ended July 10. Prices dropped as a slump in equity prices rattled investor confidence in the global recovery and gasoline futures fell.

Brent crude oil for October settlement was at $67.18 a barrel, up 36 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at 11:54 a.m. Singapore time. The contract slid to $66.82 on Sept. 4, dropping 8.2 percent last week in the biggest weekly decline this year.