[Peakoil] Oil prices continue to climb

[Antony Barry]

Oil prices continue to climb

George Lekakis

February 05, 2007 12:00am
Article from: Herald-Sun


INVESTOR support for local energy stocks is expected to surge this  
week in the wake of the recent rally in crude oil prices.
Shares in Australia's largest oil producer Woodside have risen about  
8 per cent since world oil prices began to recover in the middle of  
January.

The oil price has risen almost 20 per cent in the past three weeks  
after briefly falling below $US50 a barrel in early January.

Oil prices settled above $US59 a barrel in New York on Friday,  
finishing the week at its highest close for 2007.

Colder than normal weather in the United States and concerns over a  
second round of OPEC production cuts are driving the rally.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $US1.72 to settle at  
$US59.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the  
highest close since it finished at $US61.05 on the last trading day  
of 2006.

In after-hours electronic trading on Saturday, the contract climbed  
further, reaching $US59.25 a barrel.

Concerns were also stoked by a threat from the two main Nigerian oil  
workers' unions to strike next week to protest rising violence in the  
country's petroleum-producing southern region. The 20,000 union  
members feel "the environment is not safe enough for them to continue  
operation".

Meanwhile, increased tensions between Washington and Iran remain on  
the radar as traders worry that a confrontation between the two could  
lead to a disruption in oil production.

Iran also stirred some worries in the natural gas market when it said  
last week that it might build a global natural gas cartel like OPEC  
with Russia.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin shot down the idea and rejected  
suggestions that Russia is using its energy reserves as a political  
weapon.

Natural gas prices settled at $US7.476 per 1000 cubic feet, down  
US5.4. with AP

Source: <http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ 
0,21985,21169280-664,00.html>

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