Prices of oil show sterling increase
Brian Gorman
SOARING oil prices, together with a weaker pound, means North Sea
producers are realising 64 per cent more for a barrel of oil compared with
a year ago, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Stephen Boyle, the bank’s head of Business Economics, said:
"Sterling’s depreciation against the US dollar is an increasingly important
factor in rising oil prices in the UK and accounts for a significant
proportion of the rise in the sterling price of oil." Oil prices averaged
$31.60 a barrel in August, according to the bank’s monthly Oil and Gas
index. This is 58 per cent higher than the August 1999 figure of $19.93.
Output plummeted 13.6 per cent due to declines in production from
certain large fields. Daily average oil output for August was 2.28 million
barrels, compared with 2.65 million a year earlier. Some producers had
scheduled maintenance in August, just as prices reached their highest in
ten years. BP’s Foinaven field, west of Shetlands, produced just 66,000
barrels a day in August, compared with an average of 86,000 in the
previous 11 months.
Oil revenue averaged £48.4 million a day, up 49 per cent.
The current sterling price of oil, around £21.80, is 64 per cent higher than
October 1999, although the dollar price is 43 per cent higher.
The Scotsman
Only two more month´s of hedging to go.. |
