Oil fell further below $80 a barrel on Thursday, after earlier hitting a six-week low as fears a Greek-style debt crisis may spread to other European nations raised uncertainty over future global energy demand.
Oil has been a slumbering giant for nearly a year, but experts say the world’s most important commodity is set to resume its climb back to $100 by this summer at the latest.
Paris – French oil giant Total said Friday that the rising price of crude oil had enabled it to boost profits for the first quarter of 2010 by 14.1 per cent, to 2.61 billion euros (3.46 billion dollars), compared to the same period last year.
The world’s biggest natural gas-producing countries agreed on Monday to try to index natural gas prices to oil, but steered away from any plan to establish output quotas as a way of tackling slumping prices.
Global oil demand will hit a record high this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, revising up consumption estimates as the world economy recovers from recession.
The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.
Iran’s Oil Minister, Massoud Mirkazemi, said that the government plans to privatize all its refineries and petrochemical units, Reuters reported
Light oil futures are trading at highest levels since October 2008, touch $87 this morning, the question is, are oil prices going to hit $100 a barrel soon? A raft of latest US statistics has boosted confidence in the US economy and in turn boosted global oil prices, markets and commodities.
Oil is likely to soar above $90 per barrel on returning demand for trucking and shipping fuels this year, according to Hermes Commodities.
OPEC officials on Tuesday appeared undecided on how to respond if oil prices rose definitively above the $70-80 a barrel range they have praised this month, highlighting a looming challenge for the cartel.
