Oil prices rise on Fed rate cut hopes
Oil prices rose despite predictions of rising U.S. oil supplies, with traders focusing on expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later Wednesday and OPEC will not raise its output this week.
By Agencies |
Oil prices rose despite predictions of rising U.S. oil supplies, with traders focusing on expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later Wednesday and OPEC will not raise its output this week.
``There's possibly some anticipation over the Fed's likely rate cut,'' said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The U.S. central bank cut interest rates sharply last week, and is expected to cut rates again Wednesday. Energy investors hope the moves by the Fed and a planned stimulus package from the U.S. Congress will limit damage to the economy of the world's largest oil consumer.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery added 65 cents to US$92.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by early afternoon in Europe.
The contract rose 65 cents to settle at US$91.64 a barrel on Tuesday.
Prices were also supported by the suspension of production at a Canadian oil sands field.
Oil Sands Trust said production from the 315,000 barrels-a-day Syncrude facility in Alberta was suspended following several instrument freeze-ups as a result of extremely cold weather conditions, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Operation of a number of units was disrupted and Syncrude expected it would take several days to fully restore operations.
Oil sands are a combination of sand, water and heavy crude, more difficult to extract than conventional crude oil.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 26 cents to US$92.26 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
``The expectation is for a cut of 50 basis points, which puts the Fed in the awkward position of needing to cut by more than that to have any real impact,'' said Peter Beutel, president of the energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note.
``Since the markets have built in a cut of 50 points, anything less will diminish the positive, accumulated benefit of previous interest rate cuts.''
Traders also were eyeing OPEC production levels. Output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose 100,000 barrels a day in January to 32.9 million barrels a day, Dow Jones Newswires reported Tuesday, but the group is expected to hold future production steady at a meeting at the end of the week.
``The general expectation there is that they will probably not change production quotas,'' Moore said. ``If that is the case, it may be a factor supporting the oil price.''
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration issues its weekly inventory report later Wednesday. Oil inventories likely rose last week by around 2.3 million barrels, their third straight increase, according to analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Crude oil stocks rose 2.3 percent in the two weeks to Jan. 18, but at 289.4 million barrels, were still 9.1 percent below levels a year ago.
Gasoline inventories were expected to have grown around 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the average figure from the survey, while stocks of distillate, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, were expected to have gained around 1.6 million barrels.
A U.S. Commerce Department report on fourth-quarter GDP due out Wednesday several hours before the Fed's expected announcement on its interest rate decision also was seen as affecting oil prices.
Many analysts believe the U.S. economic growth slowed to an anemic rate of around 1 percent in the October-December quarter and could fall into negative territory in the current January-March period. One definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.
Heating oil futures added 1.25 cents to US$2.5543 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices rose 1.05 cents to US$2.3400 a gallon. Natural gas futures were up 6.7 cents to US$7.010 per 1,000 cubic feet.
``There's possibly some anticipation over the Fed's likely rate cut,'' said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The U.S. central bank cut interest rates sharply last week, and is expected to cut rates again Wednesday. Energy investors hope the moves by the Fed and a planned stimulus package from the U.S. Congress will limit damage to the economy of the world's largest oil consumer.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery added 65 cents to US$92.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by early afternoon in Europe.
The contract rose 65 cents to settle at US$91.64 a barrel on Tuesday.
Prices were also supported by the suspension of production at a Canadian oil sands field.
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Oil Sands Trust said production from the 315,000 barrels-a-day Syncrude facility in Alberta was suspended following several instrument freeze-ups as a result of extremely cold weather conditions, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Operation of a number of units was disrupted and Syncrude expected it would take several days to fully restore operations.
Oil sands are a combination of sand, water and heavy crude, more difficult to extract than conventional crude oil.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 26 cents to US$92.26 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
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``The expectation is for a cut of 50 basis points, which puts the Fed in the awkward position of needing to cut by more than that to have any real impact,'' said Peter Beutel, president of the energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note.
``Since the markets have built in a cut of 50 points, anything less will diminish the positive, accumulated benefit of previous interest rate cuts.''
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Traders also were eyeing OPEC production levels. Output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose 100,000 barrels a day in January to 32.9 million barrels a day, Dow Jones Newswires reported Tuesday, but the group is expected to hold future production steady at a meeting at the end of the week.
``The general expectation there is that they will probably not change production quotas,'' Moore said. ``If that is the case, it may be a factor supporting the oil price.''
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration issues its weekly inventory report later Wednesday. Oil inventories likely rose last week by around 2.3 million barrels, their third straight increase, according to analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Crude oil stocks rose 2.3 percent in the two weeks to Jan. 18, but at 289.4 million barrels, were still 9.1 percent below levels a year ago.
Gasoline inventories were expected to have grown around 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the average figure from the survey, while stocks of distillate, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, were expected to have gained around 1.6 million barrels.
A U.S. Commerce Department report on fourth-quarter GDP due out Wednesday several hours before the Fed's expected announcement on its interest rate decision also was seen as affecting oil prices.
Many analysts believe the U.S. economic growth slowed to an anemic rate of around 1 percent in the October-December quarter and could fall into negative territory in the current January-March period. One definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.
Heating oil futures added 1.25 cents to US$2.5543 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices rose 1.05 cents to US$2.3400 a gallon. Natural gas futures were up 6.7 cents to US$7.010 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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