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Oil dives to eight-week low

09 December 2009 07:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku- APA-Economics. Crude oil declined, heading for the lowest close in eight weeks, on forecasts that US stockpiles rose and as the US dollar gained against the euro, Bloomberg reports.
Supplies of crude oil climbed 500,000 barrels in the week ended Dec. 4, the third straight increase, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Oil prices have fallen 6 per cent this month as a stronger dollar curbed the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment. The US dollar was bolstered partly by a better-than-forecast US jobless report last week.
Crude oil for January delivery fell $US1.25, or 1.7 per cent, to $US72.68 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are heading for the lowest settlement since Oct. 9. Prices have dropped for five days, the longest losing streak since July.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the US’s biggest trading partners, increased 0.6 per cent to 76.207. The gauge touched 76.269, the highest level since Nov. 4. The US dollar strengthened 0.8 per cent against the euro to $US1.4704.
Gold futures for February delivery slipped $US20.60, or 1.8 per cent, to settle at $US1,143.40 an ounce on the Comex division of Nymex. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities declined 0.9 per cent to 271.74, the weakest since Nov. 13 on a closing basis.
The US Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly inventory report at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Washington. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute will publish its data at 4:30 p.m. today.
Stockpiles of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, where New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil is stored, surged 21 per cent to 30.9 million barrels in the five weeks ended Nov. 27, according to the department.
Brent crude oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange fell $US1.15, or 1.5 per cent, to $US75.28 a barrel. Brent is trading at a $US2.60 premium to the US benchmark, the most on a closing basis since Aug. 18.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is unlikely to change crude-oil production quotas at its Dec. 22 meeting in Angola, Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told reporters in Doha, Qatar, today. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Dec. 5 that oil prices are in ``the right range.’’