Oil extends gains to $66

Oil extends gains to $66

By Chris Flood

Published: May 29 2009 11:59 | Last updated: May 29 2009 17:16

Crude oil prices were on course on Friday for their strongest monthly rise in more than 10 years following this week’s Opec meeting where the oil producers’ group delivered a surprisingly upbeat assessment of demand.

Nymex July West Texas Intermediate hit a seven-month high of $66.47 on Friday befor

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e easing to trade 92 cents higher at $66 a barrel, up 7 per cent this week.

US crude prices have risen 29.1 per cent in May, on track for their best monthly performance since March 1999.

ICE July Brent gained 76 cents to $65.15 a barrel, up 7.2 per cent this week.

Abdalla El-Badri, Opec’s secretary-general, said oil prices could rise to $70-$75 a barrel by the end of the year.

“The outlook is improving,” said Mr El-Badri, who also conceded that the market’s fundamentals were “still weak”.

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Saudi warns of $150 oil within three years

By Giulia Segreti and agencies in Rome

Published: May 25 2009 18:59 | Last updated: May 25 2009 18:59

Saudi Arabia warned oil prices could spike to beyond the near $150 record high of 2008 within three years as it joined other energy leaders on Monday to call for more investment to boost production over the long term.

Energy ministers and officials at the Group of Eight energy summit wrapped up the two-day meeting by urging the industry to pump money into projects to expand capacity despite the credit crisis, which has put the brakes on investment.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi said the world was heading for a fresh spike after the current phase of faltering demand and lower prices, which he said reflected the economic downturn rather than being an indicator of things to come.

”We are maintaining our long-term focus rather than being swayed by the volatility of short-term conditions,” he said in prepared remarks at the summit.

”However, if others do not begin to invest similarly in new capacity expansion projects, we could see within two-to-three years another price spike similar to or worse than what we witnessed in 200
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An outlook on where crude is heading next

Crude Realities

An outlook on where crude is heading next, with Stephen Schork, The Schork Report editor and Joe Petrowski, Gulf Oil CEO.

Impact of US dollar fall on stock and commodity prices

The dollar drops, commodities like oil and gold rise, and they are seen as a value against future inflation. (Market Week)
A useful round-up from Bloomberg on the fall of the US dollar last week and what this has meant for commodities and commodity stock prices. Note the 11 per cent bounce in gold stocks.