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Oil prices mixed; New York contract expires below 34 dollars
AFP - Saturday, December 20
NEW YORK (AFP) - - Oil prices were mixed Friday, with the New York contract expiring below 34 dollars a barrel, as weak global demand weighed on the market.
The benchmark contract's expiration Friday also prompted intense speculative action, analysts said.
The contract for New York's light sweet crude for delivery in January expired at 33.87 dollars a barrel, down 2.35 dollars from its Thursday close.
The contract dived to an intraday low of 32.40 dollars, a level last seen on February 9, 2004.
The New York contract for delivery in February, which becomes the market reference beginning Monday, finished 69 cents higher at 42.36 dollars.
In London, Brent North Sea oil for February delivery rose 64 cents to settle at 44.00 dollars.
"Crude fell as concerns over a global economic slowdown weighed on sentiment," said Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar.
Investors in the New York contract for January delivery raced to sell before the contract expired.
Oil stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, where New York oil is stored, are at maximum capacity. Incapable of parking more oil there at the end of Friday's session, investors were forced to sell off, independent analyst Ellis Eckland said.
In response to the fresh price falls, OPEC president Chakib Khelil said Friday the cartel would keep reducing output until prices stabilize, just days after the 13-member group approved the biggest production cut in its history.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces about 40 percent of the world's crude, agreed Wednesday to cut output by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in a bid to shore up prices.
"We will continue this reduction until the price will stabilize," Khelil told reporters in London at a key gathering of major oil producing and consuming nations.
Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, said prices could have gone even lower if OPEC had not already made cuts in September and October.
"I think the question that people don't ask is where would the price be today if we did not take a decision in September of reducing 500,000 (bpd), and if we did not make the decision in October to reduce by 1.5 (million bpd)," he said.
"The prices today would have been very, very low, so I think we did have an impact although we did not succeed in stabilizing," he added.
OPEC's output reduction, agreed this week at a ministerial meeting in Oran, Algeria, has failed to prevent oil diving to multi-year lows from record peaks above 147 dollars in July.
"The global recession continues to sap demand," said BetOnMarkets analyst David Evans.
"Even after OPEC cut production by more then two million barrels, oil prices have fallen below the 40 dollar per barrel level. Prices are likely to stabilize between the 35 and 40 dollar levels."
Many traders questioned whether all members of the 13-nation OPEC cartel would fully enforce the reduction.
"Skepticism about OPEC's ability to cut output resulted in a steep fall in oil prices," said analysts at Barclays Capital.
In London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that oil price volatility was "in no one's interest."
Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Nuaimi again indicated that 75 dollars would be "fair and reasonable," adding that anything lower could lead to more, not less, instability.
"When oil is priced lower, such as it is now, there will be less investment and less future supply," he said in London.
"Eventually, this scenario is followed by a surge in prices, as supplies will not be sufficient to meet growth in consumption levels."
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An attendant fills up a jeepney at a service station in Manila. Oil prices were mixed Friday, with the New York contract expiring below 34 dollars a barrel, as weak global demand weighed on the market.
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