Oil prices rise above US$60 a barrel

27-Oct-06

Front-month December light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to US$60.60 a barrel in Asian electronic trading. With winter demand for heating oil and natural gas expected to peak in the coming months, prices are estimated to climb more. Prices touched US$61.40 a barrel, the highest close since Sept. 29 after reports that inventories have unexpectedly shrunk last week in USA amid the highest demand for oil products since last December. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plans to implement more than the 1.2 million barrels of output cuts announced last week than previously thought.