Crude oil prices slide

10-May-06

Light, sweet crude for June delivery slipped to US$70.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices slid on anticipation that a U.S. government petroleum inventories report is expected to show a rise in domestic gasoline stocks for the second straight week. Prices continue to be supported by concerns of the outlook for Iran's oil exports amid confrontation with the West over its nuclear program, along with unrest in Nigeria, violence in and rising resource nationalism in South America. Last week, the Energy Information Administration reported that domestic gasoline demand remained flat at around 9 million bpd in the week ended April 28, allowing stocks to post a build of 2.1 million barrels for the week. The U.S. Energy Department anticipates U.S. oil demand in Q2 to grow by just 1%, to 20.63 million bpd, partly due to high gasoline prices.