Oil prices inch up

15-Feb-07

Oil prices fell by US$1.06 to settle at US$58 a barrel on Wednesday, after the U.S. Department of Energy reported that distillate fuel stocks fell by 3 million barrels last week. After a dip of more than 1.8% in the previous session triggered by data that showed a less-than-expected drop in U.S. inventories for distillate fuel, including heating oil and diesel oil-oil prices inched up in Asian trading on Thursday. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose to US$58.02 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. Most of last week's decline in distillate stocks came from the drop in heating oil inventories rather than diesel fuel, as a cold snap in the Northeast boosted heating demand. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast above-normal temperatures in the U.S. Northeast from Feb. 21 to Feb. 27, ending weeks of freezing temperatures in the region where 80 percent of the nation's heating oil demand comes from.