News

June 12, 2009

Oil Tops US$73 As Markets Savour Firmer Economic Forecasts

By Eithne Treanor

The oil market kept an optimistic outlook this week with a combination of stronger economic news and a fresh forecast from the International Energy Agency. Having hit a new 7-month high above US$73 this week, the oil price fell back slightly at the end of the week to around US$72 in early trading on Friday.

The IEA raised its forecast for global oil demand after months of negative reporting. The outlook has been gloomy since August 2008. This encouraged traders who continued to buy oil futures on expectations that global oil demand for 2009 will now increase by 120,000 barrels to 83.3 million barrels a day. 

OPEC releases its monthly oil market report later today and the market will be expecting good news. See www.opec.org for the latest report...