Oil little changed below $81

15 March 2010

Written by Neil Brunskill

Crude oil prices were flat on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (March 15th), trading around $81 (£53) a barrel.

The commodity slumped alongside heating oil at the end of last week amid concerns that global supply of energy products will continue to outpace demand.

The selloff came after a statement from Iran's governor of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) Mohammad Ali Khatibi warned that the global market may be oversupplied unless oil-producing countries comply with supply caps.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives sales manager at broker Newedge in Tokyo, explained: "Global demand may be increasing gradually this year but there’s plenty of available supply."

Meanwhile, Toby Hassall, a research analyst at CWA Global Markets, said that oil is likely to stay around its current price range until demand picks up or supply is cut.

Traders have looked to both China and the US for signs that recovery may be improving, with the former's industrial growth being largely offset by weak demand for fuel across domestic, commercial and industrial sectors in the latter.

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