Oil surges to record $126.2Category: Business/Economy
Written by: Amend Foster (on May 10, 2008 - 10:17 AM)E-Mail Article to a Friend
NEW YORK, May 9: Oil jumped to a new intraday record of $126.20 a
barrel on Friday, extending gains to more than 11 per cent since the
start of the month on fuel supply concerns and a rush of speculator
buying. American crude for June delivery was up $2.03 at $125.72 a
barrel by 17:15 GMT.
“It appears that any calculations that included waiting for the next
pullback were discarded on the European opening this morning as waves
of buying materialised, particularly from speculative interests,” said
Mike Fitzpatrick, vice-president at MF Global.
Oil has surged since slipping as low as $110.53 a barrel on May 1.
Investors have seized on disruptions to crude oil supplies in the North
Sea and Nigeria as well as galloping demand for distillate fuels, a
category that includes diesel fuel and heating oil.
Strong demand for diesel fuel in Europe, along with the growing use of
distillates to power generators to supplement strained power grids in
fast growing emerging markets, have cut into stocks of distillate fuel
and pushed up prices sharply. “Lingering geopolitical fears and high
heating oil prices are helping the market, but the speed of the rise is
too fast,” said Tatsuo Kageyama, analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management in
Tokyo.—Reuters Share your thoughts by posting a Talk-Back:
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