To All,
FOCUS-Oil mini-rally falters on stocks concern
Reuters Story - May 24, 1999 07:07
LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - Oil prices weakened in early trade on Monday, ending a recent recovery, on concerns over huge stockpiles.
Benchmark Brent blend crude traded nine cents lower at $15.49 a barrel at 1040 GMT, after gaining 55 cents in the previous two sessions.
Brokers said lingering concerns over high stocks and feeble refinery margins continued to place downside pressure on near term oil prices.
"Overall there remains a feeling that product and crude stocks remain high and that prices are vulnerable to another setback," broker GNI said in its daily report.
Brokers said they were monitoring the Iraqi oil exports saga as an oil-for-food deal with the United Nations expires on Monday.
Iraq stayed silent on whether or not it would agree to a new sixth round of the deal. Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed, attending an industry symposium along with senior officials on Monday, declined to talk to reporters about the deal.
The council voted unanimously on Friday to extend the existing humanitarian programme, under which Iraq is exporting about 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), for another six months.
The council's vote allows Iraq to export up to $5.26 billion of oil in the next six months from May 25 to November 20, but also pledged that if Iraq gets close to this sales cap, the council will consider raising the limit to ensure the uninterrupted flow of oil and the humanitarian goods it buys.
Extension of the plan would only take effect if Iraq agreed to continue the oil sales, which provide revenues that go into a U.N. account to pay for humanitarian goods.
Iraq has threatened to postpone or even end the sales unless it is guaranteed that the programme is not a substitute for lifting or easing the trade sanctions in place since Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, analysts in Baghdad said.
Iraq's official line is that it has not yet decided on a sixth round. But independent oil industry experts who follow the issue closely say Baghdad might delay its agreement on the deal until the Security Council reaches common ground on a set of proposals to ease or suspend U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
Prices in dollars a barrel:
May 24 May 21
1035 GMT (close)
IPE July Brent 15.49 15.58
NYMEX June light crude 17.35 17.41 |
