Crude oil prices wobble in early trade

23 September 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Crude oil prices wobbled in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (September 23rd) and had rebuilt early losses to trade marginally higher as European markets opened.

At 02:49 Central Standard Time, the November-delivery crude contract was trading at $74.78 a barrel, up seven cents on yesterday's settle price.

Traders were pushing prices in both directions after a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed an unexpected increase in crude, gasoline and heating oil stockpiles last week.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne, commented: "The builds aren't good for the market. There just doesn't seem to be the demand around at the moment. The major industries that use oil intensely in the US are still sluggish."

Heating oil prices were also flat this morning around $2.10 a gallon, under pressure after the EIA report showed subdued demand despite the start of the winter fuel season.

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