Oil prices to continue rising through this month

Oil prices to continue rising through this month: Purnomo

Jakarta (Platts)--14Oct2004


Oil prices will continue to strengthen until the end of October because demand
is still rising, OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters in Jakarta
in a brief comment Thursday. 

Purnomo did not elaborate or say how high he
expected prices to go. US light sweet crude West Texas Intermediate for
November delivery was trading around $53.64/bbl at 0730 GMT Thursday in Asia,
maintaining its strength after climbing $1.13/bbl in the New York session
Wednesday. Sweet crude benchmarks WTI and Brent have been led to their recent
all-time highs by a combination of supply fears and strong demand going into
the winter season. About 27% of US Gulf oil production still remains curtailed
in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. Recent resurgence of rebel violence and
labor problems in OPEC member Nigeria plus some 55,000bbl/day of oil output
shut-in by an offshore workers' strife in Norway have added to jitters over
supply. The uncertainty surrounding Russian producer Yukos has grown with news
this week that the government is to sell off its production subsidiary.

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