Credit oil futures fell Friday for a sixth straight session to their lowest level in four years, ending the week with the biggest loss since the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Crude oil for January delivery ended down $2.85, or 6.5%, at $40.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing level since December 2004. Oil lost 25% during the week, the largest drop since the week ended Jan. 18, 1991.
Crude's weekly loss, the second biggest since oil futures started trading in 1983, surpassed the 24% decline recorded in the week ended March 21, 2003, when the U.S. government confirmed that coalition troops had seized control of Iraqi oil fields.
However, there is a strong support at $40.
Total U.S. petroleum products supplied in the past four weeks dropped 6.6% from the same period a year ago, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Motor gasoline demand in the world's biggest oil consuming country dropped 2.8%.
Global oil demand will show an "outright contraction" of 0.5% next year, according to Merrill Lynch analysts, led by Francisco Blanch. They expected crude prices to average at $50 next year.
Also on the Nymex, January reformulated gasoline fell 7% to 90.12 cents a gallon, and January heating oil fell 5.5% to $1.4265 a gallon. January natural-gas futures tumbled 4.6% to $5.742 per million British thermal units.
However, there is a strong support at $40. 
No comments:
Post a Comment