Oil Rises to Record Above $50 Intraday
Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil prices rose to a record in New York and London after hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico curbed U.S. production for more than three weeks, slowing the accumulation of supplies to meet winter needs.
The U.S. pumped 28 percent less oil than normal yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico because of damage related to Hurricane Ivan, the government said. U.S. heating-oil stocks in the week ended Sept. 24 were 9.7 percent below the average for this time of year in the previous five years.
``There's a general bullish mood in the market,'' said Richard Lewis, a broker for Refco Group Ltd. in London. ``People overestimated how quickly U.S. production would get back up again and there are still big supply problems.''
Crude oil for November delivery rose 58 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $50.49 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:15 p.m. London time, surpassing a Sept. 28 intraday record. November Brent crude also climbed to a record of $46.87 on London's International Petroleum Exchange.
``They keep trying to push prices above the records,'' said Rob Laughlin, a director at GNI Ltd., a London futures brokerage. ``There's still a lot of Gulf production down, about a quarter, and there are problems berthing vessels.''
Traders also are concerned supplies from Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, will be disrupted if there is a collapse of last week's government-brokered cease-fire between rebel groups that have threatened to attack oil fields. Royal Dutch/Shell Group is slowing Nigerian production.
``Nobody is fully confident that the Nigerian cease-fire will hold out,'' Refco's Lewis said. |
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