Crude oil prices dip after supply gain

2 December 2009

Crude oil prices dipped during early trading this morning on the back of supply data from the API.

Crude oil prices retreated marginally during electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (December 2nd), weighed down by the latest demand data from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

According to the organisation, stocks of crude, gasoline and distillates such as heating oil all rose in the US last week, indicating that demand for fuels is still subdued.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo, said: "Here we are into the fourth quarter and we aren't getting any draws in inventories, especially in distillate fuels. It’s just not good for demand."

Reacting to the announcement, crude oil prices began to pare gains in late trading yesterday and continued to dip moderately this morning.

By 02:50 Central Time, the January-delivery crude oil contract was trading at $78.13 (£47) a barrel, down 24 cents on yesterday's settle price.

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