"The open interest in WTI is still quite high ahead of expiry," said a London-based trader.
"People are looking to cover their shorts," he said, explaining why front month WTI was markedly up despite Thursday's fall in prices. The December NYMEX WTI contract was trading above Thursday's closing price, over the $94/b level. An unexpected build in US oil stocks prompted a sell off Thursday on futures markets but this has been negated as market participants round off their last positions of the 2007 calendar year.

"In the short term I expect [prices] to stay at this level,"
Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil told reporters on the sidelines of the OPEC summit in Riyadh. Khelil said Friday he thought oil prices would remain at around current levels in the short term but without going over $100/barrel, before easing in the second quarter of 2008. Current prices are likely to persist until the end of the first quarter, "depending on the winter situation," the minister said.

Updated: November 16, 2007