US Light oil prices remain near $109 a barrel in trading this afternoon, which is a nine month high as analysts mull over the fact that crude oil demand may be curbed as US oil inventory data is expected to show a big gain, figures out on Wednesday may show.<\/p>\n
Latest WTI Oil Price<\/strong><\/p>\n US Light crude oil futures for April 2012 delivery was trading at $108.52 a barrel, 15.48 GMT today in electronic trading on the NYMEX.<\/p>\n “We do not see sustained gains from here, and the market is likely to pause. The market has been overbought lately, with a substantial geopolitical risk premium in London, due to ongoing jitters over Iran\u2019s controversial nuclear program.” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London who predicts that prices will remain little changed this week.<\/p>\n US Oil Demand<\/strong><\/p>\n The American Commerce Department said US orders for durable goods in January fell at the fastest pace in three years. Demand for big- icket items designed to last at least three years fell by 4 percent in the month, compared with economists’ expectations for a 1.1 percent decline.<\/p>\n Worries over slowing demand come as high oil prices, which posted 9 and 10 month highs in recent days, have driven retail gasoline and diesel prices in the US to their highest ever levels for this time of year.<\/p>\n “US demand is particularly weak. West Texas and Brent contracts hit technical levels and so we saw some pullback. There\u2019s also concerns broadly in the market that oil prices at these levels will lead to demand destruction.” Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty, said by telephone today from Sydney.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n