What's Moving the Oil Markets?
• Crude futures rose Monday, mainly underpinned by bullish technicals and
partly by Sunday's fire at Saudi Arabia's Haradh gas pipeline that killed 28
people, sources said. Additionally, with the US dollar coming close to
record lows against the euro in earlier trading on Monday, the petroleum
futures complex received some additional support in an otherwise quiet
market.
•At 11:27 GMT, Jan ICE Brent gained 45 cents to $92.07/barrel, trading above
$92/b for the first time in a week. "The fire at the gas pipeline in Saudi
Arabia seems to have lent support to the complex in earlier trading," a
London-based broker said. "Otherwise the market appears very quiet...the
market is off its highs though," he added. Looking at technicals, market
sentiment still appears bullish. "Technicals are still bullish. To me it
looks as if crude futures have another $1/b to go before they find
resistance," the broker said.
•On Sunday, state-owned Saudi Aramco said in a statement that a fire broke
out in a gas pipeline near the Hawiyah gas gathering plant in eastern Saudi
Arabia. But although markets seemed to react to the incident with a stronger
start into Monday trading, Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said Sunday
that oil and gas production in Haradh were not affected by the fire.
Updated: November 19, 2007
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