Crude oil prices dipped below US$80/barrel on release of report by the Energy Information Administration that oil supply in USA grew by 3.7 mln barrels last week, well above the average for this time of year, while gasoline supplies grew by 3.8 mln barrels. US demand for petroleum products that showed a near 1 percentage point dip from last year, indicate weaker demand. Benchmark crude for February delivery fell to US$79.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude for February delivery fell by almost a dollar to US$78.3 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Oil prices have been healthy since the beginning of the New Year on increased demand due to a cold snap in the Northern Hemisphere, a weaker dollar and news that China has increased oil imports by nearly 14% in 2009, fueling expectations that world oil demand will continue to grow. But oil prices started falling this week as temperatures rose and China announced that it would try to cool bank lending.
14-Jan-10 
{{comment.DateTimeStampDisplay}}
{{comment.Comments}}