NYMEX front-month crude sets new all-time high of $49.75/bbl

New York (Platts)--27Sep2004

Front-month crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange posted an
all-time intra-day high of $49.60/bbl Monday after opening at $49.50/bbl as
supply fears continued to plague the oil markets. Subsequently, the market
posted an all-time high of $49.75, which was lowered to $49.74/bbl, matching
the high on Access trade. Unrest in Nigeria spurred the market on although
labor problems in that region has been fairly commonplace over the last
several months. 

"While such periodic unrest has become somewhat common, the disturbance comes
atop already heightened concerns about supply availability headed towards the
northern hemisphere winter and the often discussed failure of visible storage
to have built more rapidly despite record levels of OPEC production," Michael
Rothman, analyst at Merrill Lynch, said in a report. October heating oil
opened 1.71 cts higher at $1.3750/gal, another all-time high, and October
unleaded gasoline opened 1.68 cts higher at $1.3650/gal.

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