What's Moving the Oil Markets?
•Crude futures were rangebound Tuesday in a consolidatory period
after a huge selloff late Monday, with some support for prices from reports
of a fire on a Nigerian oil pipelines. "It's a bit of 'calm after the storm'
so far, with some buying around because it looks cheap compared to the last
few days," one London-based broker said.
•Crude futures fell by around $4/b late Monday as a rebound in the US dollar
and a weak NYMEX product contract expiration sent prices lower across the
petroleum sector. The US dollar index has held on to gains made Monday and
moved above 72 points. However, despite the weakness, crude prices remained
above the $100/b level, which some market analysts see as a supporting value
for the crude complex.
•Earlier in the session there were reports of a fire on a trunkline that
feeds into Nigeria's Bonny crude oil export terminal. Although operator
Shell said its production has been not been disrupted this did not stop
crude prices rising slightly as it further highlighted the delicate
situation in the Niger Delta, where militant attacks on oil installations
have been frequent.
Updated: April 1, 2008
|
