IPE Brent higher on the "likelihood" of cold weather in the US

IPE Brent higher on the "likelihood" of cold weather in the US

London (Platts)--15Dec2004


Crude oil futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange rose Wednesday
in electronic morning dealing as fears over heating oil shortages remained a
major concern, traders said. "Fears over a cold snap in the US northeast have
helped to drive prices higher, but this has been talked about since last
week," an IPE Brent dealer said. 

Prices rallied late in the session Tuesday to end the day over $1.00 higher.
Front-month January Brent was 40 cts higher at $39.65/bbl, trading within
a few cents of the intra-day low. Distillate stocks in the US remain
around 12.8-mil bbl below year ago levels and 9.4-mil bbl
below the five-year averages. "The funds are short in the heating oil
complex," an IPE Brent dealer said referring to the latest Commitment of
Traders report, released Friday.

January gasoil futures on the IPE were $4.50 higher at $386.50/mt, trading
within $1.00 of the intra-day high so far at 1050GMT. Traders expected
activity to be typically subdued ahead of the release of the US DOE stats,
which sources polled by Platts Wednesday morning, predicted that distillate
stocks would be around 1-mil bbl higher, crude unchanged to down 1.5-mil and
gasoline up 1-mil bbl.

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