Yesterday, Crude oil prices were buoyed after the Paris-based IEA, which is the energy watchdog for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development grouping of industrialized nations, forecast Chinese and global oil demand to increase by 1.55 million pd in 2007 — nearly twice the rate of growth seen in 2006. After yesterdays’ 2.2% rise, oil prices dipped marginally in Asian trading. Light, sweet crude for March delivery dropped to US$58.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.
Traders await the weekly U.S Department of Energy's supply data, expecting a decline in U.S. inventories following a cold snap in the U.S. Northeast, a major consumer of heating oil.