Oil prices have reached their highest level since Dec. 22, settling at US$62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. This decline has been triggered by diminishing supply concerns in volatile global stock markets that have prompted traders to question the strength of forward demand of oil. Tuesday's sharp fall in U.S. share prices triggered worries that economic growth may stall. Brent crude also rose to settle at US$62.11 a barrel, on London's ICE futures exchange.
In its weekly report, the Department of Energy indicated that stockpiles of gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, dropped last week by a larger amount than analysts had forecast. U.S. crude inventories climbed 1.4 million barrels to 329.0 million barrels last week. But gasoline inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels to 220.2 million barrels, and distillate inventories fell by 3.8 million barrels to 124.5 million barrels. This dip in inventories was seen at a time when demand for products rose by 7.5% over the last four-week period, from the same period last year.
02-Mar-07 
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