What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

Global crude oil futures climbed higher Thursday after the larger than expected US distillate stock draw fueled Wednesday a rally back towards $61/bbl, brokers said. "The distillate stock draw certainly fueled the rally," one broker said. In Wed's US stock report, distillate inventories fell by 2.7 mil barrels against a projected decline of just 715,000 barrels.

•The IEA's Claude Mandil has said that they "remain concerned" about OPEC's decision to curtail crude supplies by 1.2 mil b/d at their recent meeting. "OPEC is saying there are a lot of commercial stocks," Mandil told reporters in Singapore. "But [in the OECD countries] they are at 55 days of forward demand, which is not exceptional," said the executive director of IEA, energy advisor to 26 developed countries.

•The IEA maintains that crude prices at $60 per barrel are still too high. Executive director Claude Mandil said "many OPEC officials are saying we have to do [cut output] because prices are too low," Mandil said. "They are exactly the opposite. They are too high." He said it was a cause for concern "that OPEC is trying to put a floor at $60. Prices should go down much below $60."

Updated: 11/09/06

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