New York’s main oil contract climbed to a new record high point of $47 per barrel on Wednesday, amid fears of disruption to supplies in Iraq and Russia and ahead of weekly estimates of United States oil inventories, analysts said.
New York’s reference contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, climbed 25 cents to $47 per barrel in pre-opening electronic deals, having hit a record closing level of $46,75 on Tuesday.
The contract was trading later on Wednesday at $46,96, one cent above an all-time high of $46,95 set before Tuesday’s record close.
”There are still so many potential disruptions to supply, in a very very tight market … I think it is a matter of when and not if we reach $50,” Investec analyst Bruce Evers said.
Traders’ attention was meanwhile firmly on the US inventory data, set to be published later on Wednesday, with analysts predicting a rise in distillate stocks but falls in those of crude oil and gasoline, or petrol.
”People are nervous about the inventory data in the US later on,” Evers said. ”They are looking for a decline in crude and gasoline stocks due to the impact of the hurricanes.”
Hurricane Charley tore a path across Florida last Friday causing the death of at least 19 people, the destruction of thousands of homes and disruption to oil supplies.
”If you were to have other hurricanes shutting refining capacities in the Gulf coast, you could very quickly see inventories run down to extreme levels, which would make the market very nervous going into the winter months,” Evers said.
Prices were being supported also by the saga surrounding embattled Russian oil titan Yukos, which on Tuesday saw a Moscow court thwart its legal bid to pay off a crippling tax bill.
Heavy fighting was meanwhile continuing in major producer Iraq, as US troops, backed by helicopter gunships, pounded militia bastions in Najaf’s historic Old City, one day after radical Shi’ite leader Moqtada Sadr snubbed an Iraqi peace mission. — Sapa-AFP