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What's Moving the Oil Markets?
•Global crude futures strengthened Tuesday as
market participants looked ahead with some uncertainty at the
prospect of US stock data and an OPEC meeting in Vienna on
successive days later this week. At 1140 GMT, the April ICE Brent
contract changed hands at $61.45/barrel up 71 cents.
•"There are jitters ahead of the OPEC," said a broker. "People are
looking for any bullish noises ahead of the meeting and trying to
anticipate that. There is some nervous sentiment in the market,
with potentially bullish news about US stock data on Wednesday."
This reverses four days of consecutive losses for crude futures on
the back of weaker product prices.
•Earlier comments by OPEC appear not to have allayed this
uncertainty in the market. UAE oil minister and current OPEC
president Mohamed bin Dhaen al-Hamli said Tuesday he believed the
forthcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna on March 15 would be an
"ordinary" one, suggesting there would be no change in OPEC's
production. Market sources said seasonality and the changing
demand for different products was also playing a role.
Updated: March 13, 2007 |