Aufregung im Ã-lmarkt - das könnte für die Preisentwicklung brenzlig werden.



Data spook oil prices
News of lower US inventories boosts crude price almost 50 cents
August 2, 2000: 7:48 a.m. ET


LONDON (CNNfn) - Oil futures rose in London Wednesday after the previous day's data from the American Petroleum Institute indicated a sharp fall in petroleum reserves.

The API's weekly report said U.S. oil stocks declined by 9 million barrels, confounding analysts' forecasts that higher imports would result in a 1 million barrel increase.

Brent crude for September delivery rose almost 50 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $27.60 in London. OPEC has said that it will increase its output if the price of its basket of different oil types stays above $25 a barrel. The oil cartel supplies around 40 percent of the world's crude.

Analysts warned however, that early stock figures are notoriously unreliable, and are often subject to revision.

"The market is so volatile at the moment...the one thing the oil market desperately needs at the moment is clarity from OPEC, and it's not getting it," Julian Lee, a senior strategist at the Center for Global Energy Studies, told CNNfn.com.

The cost of a barrel of crude oil has come down from more than $30 in the past few weeks as traders anticipated a glut of product coming onto the market. However, there is some dispute among oil market participants, not least among OPEC members themselves, as to the underlying balance of demand and supply in the world economy.

Some OPEC hawks, notably Iran, have indicated their concern that oil prices could crash again if too much supply comes onto the market. The price of a barrel of oil fell in early 1999 as low as $10.

Large oil-consuming nations, such as the United States, want a stable oil price around $25 to prevent a global economic crunch. Big producers, such as Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, have said they share that goal, in order



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K C


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