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Crude oil surges above $76

24 December 2009 07:51 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Oil traded above $76 a barrel in New York, after gaining the most in a month on a report showing a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. stockpiles, Bloomberg reported.

Oil rose 3.1 percent yesterday after the Department of Energy said supplies had their biggest drop since September. Confidence among U.S. consumers increased in December for the first time in three months as the pace of job cuts slowed.

Crude oil for February delivery traded at $76.68, up 0.1 percent, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:42 a.m. Sydney time. Oil increased $2.27 to $76.67 yesterday, the highest settlement since Dec. 1 and the biggest gain since Nov. 16. Prices are up 72 percent this year.

Oil may reach $90 in 2010, driven by Chinese demand, Nick Raffan, an analyst at Fat Prophets, said in an interview today in Sydney. â€œChinaâ€™s growth rates are startling,â€ he said.

Futures have traded between $68.59 and $82 since Oct. 6.

The market will trade near the top of the range at the start of 2010, Brison Bickerton, chief energy strategist at RBS Sempra Commodities in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. â€œWe look for a price of $78 to $80 in the first half of the year. We believe that as fundamentals tighten up in the second half of the year, oil can press higher to $85.â€

Oil also advanced yesterday as the dollar dropped against the currencies of the U.S.â€™s biggest trading partners. A weaker dollar increases the appeal of commodities to investors.
Brent crude oil for February settlement rose $1.99, or 2.7 percent, to end the session at $75.45 a barrel on the London- based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. It was the highest close since Dec. 7.