Oil prices fall by more than a dollar

30-Jan-07

Oil prices dipped by more than a dollar to US$54 a barrel, as traders pushed aside worries about further reduction in production by OPEC, on statements by Saudi officials, who reiterated that they are not in favor of further production cuts and are comfortable with prices at current levels. Interestingly, even as forecasts have been made of below-normal temperatures on the U.S. East Coast continuing into at least the first week of February, they have proved insufficient to keep the energy markets stoked. Light, sweet crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at US$54.01 a barrel, after rising as high as US$55.96 in earlier trading. March Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange in London settled at US$53.68 a barrel.