Light oil price hovers at $107 amid higher US crude inventories
BonTradeWTI Light oil prices open Thursday’s trading session hovering around $107 a barrel amid higher US crude oil inventory data, after the US government said oil inventories rose 4.2 million barrels last week, highlighting the weak pace of demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
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US Light crude oil futures for April 2012 delivery was trading at $107.05 a barrel, 06.00 GMT today in electronic trading on the NYMEX.
Rising inventories have done little, however, to blunt the recent runup in oil prices. Benchmark Light crude on the NYMEX rose 9 percent in February, climbing to a nine month high of nearly $110 a barrel last week, in a rally driven largely by tensions with Iran.
Most of the gains came during the final few minutes of trading in New York. Traders said concerns about a supply disruption from Iran continue to weigh on the market and have left traders wary of placing bets on lower prices, despite rising inventories in the US.
“There’s still a lot of fear in this market when it comes to the geopolitics. People don’t want to be short, or they continue to speculate that something’s going to happen on the Israel Iran front.” said Jaya Bajpai, managing director of Trajan Investment Management.
US crude oil stockpiles have risen almost 5 percent year to date, underscoring the rising availability of oil and tepid US demand.
Originally posted here:
Light oil price hovers at $107 amid higher US crude inventories
