Light sweet crude for December delivery fell by US$1.82 to $56.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, January Brent crude futures rose to US$60.81 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices fell as conflicting market trends emerged: OPEC has cut output but the U.S. economy is slowing; winter is Fast approaching in USA but the country has an abundance of home heating fuels. These mixed signals have helped crude futures dip below US$57.
Certain factors such as instability in Nigeria and Iraq, a recent drop in U.S. refinery output and trading patterns suggest that the market is preparing for an upswing. Currently the market seems to be no longer responding to geopolitical news that once reliably sparked buying, including frequent kidnappings of oil workers in Nigeria and threats by Iran to pursue its nuclear program over the objections of Western power.
17-Nov-06 
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