Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose to US$58.41 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. Just ahead of an OPEC meeting, oil prices rose on reports of fall in supplies of U.S. gasoline and other refined products in the week and recovery of Wall Street. Wall Street's plunge on Tuesday raised concerns about the U.S. economy and future demand for energy.
At its meeting in Vienna, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to keep output targets steady. However, will maintaining current OPEC quotas leave the market with a surplus in the second quarter, which could hurt prices? As per last weeks’ report by the US Energy Department, crude inventories rose to 325.3 million barrels, and gasoline inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels, above expectations of a 2.1 million barrel decline. Inventories for distillate stocks — which include heating oil and diesel fuel — fell by 2.8 million barrels, more than estimates of a 1.9 million barrel drop.
15-Mar-07 
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