Improved US economic growth in Q3, concerns over Hurricane Sandy prop oil prices

29-Oct-12

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December rose to US$86.2 while Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December gained over a dollar at US$109.5 a barrel in London trade. Oil prices have closed higher, on better-than-expected US economic growth in Q3 and worries about Hurricane Sandy churning toward the heavily populated US east coast. The US economy grew 2% at an annualised rate in the July-September quarter, accelerating from 1.3% in the second quarter, as per Commerce Department report. This was slightly above the 1.9% consensus estimate for gross domestic product growth. As a result, hopes for better demand in the world's biggest crude oil-consuming country have been spurred. US National Hurricane Centre forecasters said the storm was likely to make US landfall early Tuesday, anywhere from south of Delaware up through northern New England, and could affect a cluster of refineries along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to New Jersey.