Heating oil flat in New York

21 August 2009

Heating oil prices made fractional gains in New York this morning.

Heating oil prices rose by a fraction of a cent on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) this morning (August 21st).

Wholesale heating oil contracts traded in line with movements in crude futures, which also held steady this morning despite the emergence of weak employment data from the US.

Labor Department figures showed that the number of people claiming benefits rose unexpectedly last week, sparking concerns that demand for crude and products such as heating oil and gasoline would weaken.

On Wednesday, heating oil, crude and gasoline prices jumped on the Nymex after the Energy Information Administration showed a large drop in inventories of petrol products, indicating that demand was picking up after months of oversupply.

However, looking ahead, investors expect that crude prices are likely to fall in the weeks to come amid persistently weak demand.

A poll conducted by Bloomberg revealed that 21 of 38 analysts expect prices to fall throughout next week.