Crude recovering after demand losses

25 November 2009

Crude oil prices were rising moderately during the Asian trading session this morning (November 25th) after falling two per cent yesterday.

Tuesday's losses came after a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showing an unexpectedly large build in crude and gasoline inventories last week, highlighting the sustained weakness in demand for fuels in the US.

Speaking to Reuters, Sumisho Sano, general manager for research at SCM Securities in Tokyo, commented: "Fundamentals are not looking too good, and sentiment has turned due to the weaker data from the United States."

The headline near-term crude oil contract trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled for the day at $76.02 (£45.48) a barrel, down $1.54.

Heating oil contracts also traded lower yesterday, but have registered a partial recovery this morning.

Traders in wholesale heating oil contracts will now be looking ahead to a demand report from the Energy Information Administration due out later today.

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