OPEC will be discussing a second increase in output which has caused oil prices to jump to over $58 a barrel.
With U.S. refineries possibly not having the means to increase output, OPEC will discuss a possible increase this week.
According to a Reuters article,
“U.S. light crude for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit a nominal record of $58.28 a barrel. It later eased slightly to trade 23 cents higher on the day at $57.50.
London’s Brent crude was 54 cents higher on Monday at $57.05, also just down from a new peak of $57.65.
NYMEX crude oil for September delivey — trading at a premium to the front month — hit $60.05, the first time a futures contract has topped $60.”
“I think if prices continue to increase, we should increase the 500,000 (barrels a day),” said OPEC President Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah.
Gasoline prices have reached records for a third day as well.
A Bloomberg article says:
“That season, when motor-fuel demand peaks in the U.S., runs from Memorial Day at the end of May to Labor Day at the beginning of September. The nation’s stockpiles have dropped in the past four weekly Energy Department reports and the last two declines were bigger than expected.
High gasoline prices correspond to falling inventories in terms of the number of days of consumption that can be met, according to the U.S. Energy Department. U.S. motorists used an average of 8.9 million barrels of gasoline a day this year, up 2.2 percent from the same period in 2004, the department’s data shows. Cars, trucks and vans in the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, burn about 10 percent of global oil supplies.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.
