Oil prices rise above US$55

27-Jan-07

After dipping below US$50 a barrel last week, oil prices have climbed almost 6.6% in a volatile week of trading, settling above US$55 a barrel Friday. Concerns that OPEC members were complying with production cuts and expectations of continuing cold weather in the northeastern United States, have pushed up oil prices to settle higher. Light, sweet crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at US$55.42 a barrel. On the ICE Futures exchange in London, Brent crude settled at US$55.29 a barrel. Oil exports from OPEC nations is reported to have dipped to less than 23 million bpd in December from just under 24 million barrels a day in November. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil producer and exporter, was the quickest to implement OPEC's production cuts; its exports in December were 1.1 million bpd lower than before the OPEC's October call for production cuts.