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Oil prices fluctuate on markets

29 January 2009 09:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Oil fell in New York after U.S. crude inventories gained more than expected last week and refiners reduced output as demand declined, Bloomberg reports.
Crude oil stockpiles for the week ended Jan. 23 climbed by 6.2 million barrels to 338.8 million barrels, the highest since August 2007, the Energy Department said yesterday. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had expected a 2.9 million barrel increase. Refineries operated at 82.5 percent of capacity last week, down from 83.3 percent.
Crude oil for March delivery fell as much as 86 cents, or 1 percent, to $41.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Yesterday, oil rose 58 cents, or 1.4 percent, to settle at $42.16. Prices are down 6.9 percent this year and are 55 percent lower than a year ago.
Brent crude oil for March settlement fell as much as 90 cents, or 2 percent, to $44 a barrel on Londonâ€™s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract yesterday increased $1.17, or 2.7 percent, to settle at $44.90 a barrel.