Oil prices in Asia fall
Oil prices were down in Asia on Thursday after a freezing winter across the northern hemisphere helped them hit 14-month highs overnight.
By Agencies |
SINGAPORE: Oil prices were down in Asia on Thursday after a freezing winter across the northern hemisphere helped them hit 14-month highs overnight, analysts said.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for February delivery shed 52 cents to 82.66 dollars a barrel in the afternoon.
The US benchmark oil rose to an intraday peak of 83.52 dollars Wednesday, its highest price since October 9, 2008.
Brent North Sea crude for February delivery fell 51 cents to 81.38 dollars.
The cold spell sweeping across the northern hemisphere has helped the surge in crude prices but investors on Thursday were evaluating signs of weakening energy demand in the US, the world's biggest oil user, analysts said.
A weekly report by the US Department of Energy (DoE) on Wednesday showed that crude oil reserves rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week ending January 1, instead of the expected drop of some 300,000 barrels.
Stockpiles of distillates – including heating fuel and diesel – fell 300,000 barrels in the week, sharply below the average analyst forecast of a drop of 1.8 million barrels amid cold weather across sections of the US.
"The inventory statistics were very bearish," said Tony Nunan, a Tokyo-based risk manager for Mitsubishi Corp.
"A much bigger draw was expected but...it got a lot colder after that report so we could see much bigger draws in inventories next week."
Nunan added that geopolitical factors including terrorism concerns in Yemen following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and tensions between US and Iran would also impact oil prices.
"I think that a lot of people realise that there is still a big threat in Yemen which is right next to Saudi Arabia, so that could be a big geopolitical risk issue."
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for February delivery shed 52 cents to 82.66 dollars a barrel in the afternoon.
The US benchmark oil rose to an intraday peak of 83.52 dollars Wednesday, its highest price since October 9, 2008.
Brent North Sea crude for February delivery fell 51 cents to 81.38 dollars.
The cold spell sweeping across the northern hemisphere has helped the surge in crude prices but investors on Thursday were evaluating signs of weakening energy demand in the US, the world's biggest oil user, analysts said.
A weekly report by the US Department of Energy (DoE) on Wednesday showed that crude oil reserves rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week ending January 1, instead of the expected drop of some 300,000 barrels.
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Stockpiles of distillates – including heating fuel and diesel – fell 300,000 barrels in the week, sharply below the average analyst forecast of a drop of 1.8 million barrels amid cold weather across sections of the US.
"The inventory statistics were very bearish," said Tony Nunan, a Tokyo-based risk manager for Mitsubishi Corp.
"A much bigger draw was expected but...it got a lot colder after that report so we could see much bigger draws in inventories next week."
Nunan added that geopolitical factors including terrorism concerns in Yemen following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and tensions between US and Iran would also impact oil prices.
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"I think that a lot of people realise that there is still a big threat in Yemen which is right next to Saudi Arabia, so that could be a big geopolitical risk issue."
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