|
Oil backs off all-time high - Oil prices held steady Tuesday
in Asia after blasting overnight to a new record near $104 a barrel
and then falling back. Oil futures - propelled by the weak U.S.
dollar - climbed past $103.76 a barrel Monday on the New York
Mercantile Exchange, breaking what many analysts consider to be the
true record high for oil after the $38 per barrel price from 1980 is
adjusted for inflation. -CNN |
Paris, March 4, IRNA - The surge in energy
prices is taking place as investors seek refuge in commodities to offset a
slowing economy and a declining dollar.
International Herald Tribune said that financial
institutions like pension funds and hedge funds are also buying oil and other
commodities like gold as hedges against a rise in inflation.
That trend is expected to continue, especially
after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, signaled last week that
he was ready to cut interest rates further to bolster economic growth, despite
rising consumer prices.
Saudi
Arabian oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said crude prices were unlikely to fall
below dlrs 60 a barrel because the cost of developing new supplies, from sources
like Canadian tar sands, is rising.
"Therefore, a line has been drawn below which the
price cannot fall," Naimi said in an interview published over the weekend by
Petrostrategies, an industry newsletter in Paris.
Naimi's comments came as the OPEC oil cartel
prepares to meet on Wednesday. It is expected to leave its production levels
unchanged.
The oil producing group suggested last month that
it might curb production soon to make up for a seasonal decline in oil demand.
But with oil prices at current levels, analysts
said members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would find
it politically difficult to curb their output now.
Some analysts expect oil producers to trim their
production informally to avert an oil surplus in coming weeks.
... Payvand News - 03/04/08 ... --
