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Oil hovers over $70/barrel

11 December 2009 09:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku- APA-Economics. Oil rose toward $71 a barrel in New York, snapping seven days of losses as Chinaâ€™s industrial production and crude refining output increased, adding to signs of an economic rebound in the worldâ€™s second largest energy user, Bloomberg reported.

Oil, which has fallen 10 percent in eight days, pared some of this weekâ€™s drop after Chinaâ€™s industrial production beat estimates and oil processing reached a record. Prices had fallen after U.S. gasoline supplies rose to the highest level since April and inventories of distillate fuel increased last week.

Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $70.91 a barrel at 1:56 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract fell 13 cents to $70.54, the lowest settlement price since Oct. 7. Futures are poised for a weekly decline of 6 percent, the biggest since the week ended Sept. 25.

Chinaâ€™s refiners boosted their output last month, underscoring how demand for crude outside of developed economies is supporting oil prices.

The countryâ€™s oil processing rose 21 percent from a year earlier to 33.4 million metric tons, or about 8.2 million barrels a day, in November, according to data from the China Mainland Marketing Research Co.

Brent crude &cls;oil for January settlement rose as much as 55 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $72.41 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $72.30 a barrel at 2 p.m. Singapore time. The contract declined 53 cents, or 0.7 percent, to end the session at $71.86 a barrel yesterday.