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ballyblack

Good news Crude oil is on the way down!


Crude Oil Trades Below $54 a Barrel as Demand Declines in U.S.

By Eduard Gismatullin

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell, trading below $54 a barrel, after U.S. demand for fuel plunged to its lowest in more than two years.

Oil consumption in the U.S. dropped 4 percent last week as mild weather eased demand for heating fuel, a government report on oil inventories said yesterday. Crude pared its losses after OPEC President Mohamed al-Hamli urged members to comply with the cuts in output they had promised to make in November and in February.

``For OPEC, it is important to be prepared and to be ready to take counter-measures,'' said Klaus Breil, a fund manager at Cominvest Asset Management in Frankfurt, which manages the equivalent of $69 billion. ``The threshold of pain for OPEC is not achieved yet, but it will be at around $45 to $48, where the price might drop easily.''

Crude oil for February delivery fell as much as $1.08, or 2 percent, to $52.94 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell for a fourth day and below $53 for the first time since June 2005. It traded at $53.90 at 10:33 a.m. in London.

Brent crude oil for February settlement fell as much as $1.09, or 2 percent, to $52.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange and was up 14 cents at $53.83 in London.

A price of $53 a barrel was ``unacceptable,'' Mohamed al-Hamli said today. ``It's very difficult to have 100 percent compliance, but we need to make the cuts that we have agreed.''

OPEC's basket price, a weighted average of 11 blends produced by OPEC nations, fell 61 cents to $50.56 a barrel yesterday.

OPEC's Promises

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies 40 percent of the world's crude oil, agreed last month to cut production by 500,000 barrels a day starting in February. Earlier, OPEC had agreed to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day, starting Nov. 1. It's actually cut production by about 755,000 barrels a day since then, according to Bloomberg News estimates.

``We really have to rely ... on whether OPEC stays with its word,'' said Robbert Van Batenburg, the head of research at Louis Capital Markets LP.

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest state oil company, will make the biggest cut in exports to Asia in two years. It told South Korean refiners supplies will be cut 11 to 14 percent in February, refinery officials said. Japanese refiners will get 10 to 12 percent less crude than they contracted for, the officials said.

In U.S. dollars, the price of U.S. benchmark crude, called West Texas Intermediate, has fallen about 12 percent this year and about 16 percent in the past 12 months. In euros, the price of oil has fallen about 21 percent in a year. In yen, it's fallen 12 percent and in British pounds 24 percent.

Warm Weather

Mild weather in the northeastern U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer, saw the nation's distillate demand drop to a five-month low last week, the Energy Department said. Snow fell in New York City yesterday for the first time this winter, the latest date since records began in 1869.

Demand for fuel in the Northeast will be 23 percent below normal in the week ended Jan. 17, the Belton, Missouri-based forecaster Weather Derivatives said yesterday.

``The determining point is the decreasing demand for heating oil,'' which pushed crude oil price down, Cominvest Asset Management's Breil said.

Daily fuel deliveries from U.S. refineries fell to 19.6 million barrels last week, the lowest since April 2004. Average demand the past four weeks is down 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said. U.S. crude oil stockpiles are 7.1 percent higher than the five-year average at 314.7 million barrels. They fell 4.99 million barrels last week, the department said.

The rise in fuel inventories left U.S. heating oil stockpiles 9.2 percent higher than the five-year average for the period. Gasoline supplies are 1 percent above the five-year average, the department said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 11, 2007 05:54 EST

Witless

McMullan (Dungannon) were £566 for 2035 lts; they also told me something I didn't previously know - if ordering over 2250 lts the VAT is charged at full rate.

ollywood68

Just ordered from Ards Peninsula Oil (028 91861515) and got 900 litres for £252. They let me pay by credit card and delivered the next day. :T

wotnoshoeseh

Bought 1000 litres for £273 around a week ago.

ollywood68

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

Bought 1000 litres for £273 around a week ago.

from who??

blackadder1b

hi guys just found a good website to check out

https://www.valueoils.com

its quite good and will hopefully save you a bit. sorry if you already know about it

blondie21

Just ordered 500l from value oils.it was £145 think it was slightly cheaper last night at £141/142 but still cheaper than Pennisula and much cheaper that Hayes.Ordered online and paid online with Visa. no extra charge.

ollywood68

blondie21 wrote:

Just ordered 500l from value oils.it was £145 think it was slightly cheaper last night at £141/142 but still cheaper than Pennisula and much cheaper that Hayes.Ordered online and paid online with Visa. no extra charge.

Blondie21 - u might need to go back to basic maths class - £252 for 900 litres = 28p per litre. So 500 litres works out at £140. To me, Pennisula cost of £140 for 500 litres is still cheaper than £141/£142 To be honest the price changes on a daily basis so unless you compare companies on the same day, you are not comparing like for like.

Twobins_2

900 litre today from Bangor Fuels came in at £259 as opposed to £265 for Peninsula and £261 for Value oils

ollywood68

BatmansTank wrote:

Are those prices VAT inclusive?

yep. and paid by credit card. As i said, oil prices change on a daily basis and with some companies, Maxol direct, they respond with price changes during the day