Comments
Crude oil prices were mixed in Asia today on weak US demand and news that a terminal in Libya will resume production early next week, analysts said.
New York’s main contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for December delivery dipped four cents to $96.34 in mid-morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for December rose three cents to 108.87 in volatile trade.
Weak US demand
Kenny Kan, a market analyst with CMC Markets, said that the WTI prices remain weighed by weak US demand, reflecting a steady rise in crude oil inventories.
“The WTI crude prices had an accumulative decline near to 6.0 per cent during its trade in October as the (US Energy Information Administration) report showed crude inventories increased to 383 million barrels as at the week ending October 25,” he said in a note.
Libya to resume production
News that Libya’s Al-Harriga terminal will resume production next week kept Brent prices volatile, with analysts pointing to uncertainties.
The Al-Harriga terminal, which has a capacity of 110,000 barrels a day, has been closed along with several other terminals by protesters demanding jobs and a more equitable distribution of oil revenues.
Libya’s National Oil Corp. has said it expects the terminal to resume operations on Monday at the latest.
Labour unrest
Libyan crude production has been disrupted for several months by the labour unrest, and the output slashed to as little as 300,000 barrels per day from 1.5 million-1.6 million before the showdown began.
Production had increased in recent weeks, but an uptick in protests has raised concerns about exports from the country.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.