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Oil prices go up on world markets

10 March 2009 09:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil traded near $47 a barrel after rising yesterday as Saudi Arabia told Asian refiners that it will maintain supply cuts next month amid speculation that OPEC output reduction led to a drop in U.S. inventories, Bloomberg reported.
Saudi Aramco, the worldâ€™s biggest state oil company, will reduce shipments to Japan in April for a fifth month, said officials at three refineries who received notices. U.S. crude- oil supplies probably fell 500,000 barrels last week, according to the median of analysts estimates before an Energy Department report this week.
Crude oil for April delivery was at $47.12 a barrel, up 5 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:54 p.m. Singapore time. It earlier rose as high as $47.44 a barrel. Prices, up 5.3 percent this year, have tumbled 68 percent from the July record.
Yesterday, futures rose $1.55, or 3.4 percent, to close at $47.07 a barrel, the highest settlement since Jan. 6.
Brent crude oil for April settlement rose as much as 42 cents, or 1 percent, to $44.55 a barrel on Londonâ€™s ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $44.42 a barrel at 1:55 p.m. Singapore time. The contract fell 1.6 percent to $44.13 yesterday.
Oil in New York traded at a premium of $2.94 a barrel to the Brent grade yesterday, the widest spread since Nov. 13.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has lowered production targets three times since September to combat price declines and prevent a glut on world markets. There is speculation the group will decide to reduce output further when ministers gather in Vienna on March 15.
Oil will rise above $50 a barrel in the third quarter if OPEC lowers production by 1 million barrels a day, Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported, citing Mussa Maarafi, a member of the countryâ€™s Supreme Petroleum Council.
The 11 OPEC members with quotas, all except Iraq, produced 25.39 million barrels a day in February, down from 29.22 million barrels a day in September, according to a Bloomberg News survey of oil companies, producers and analysts.