Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rarebird who wrote (23626)	11/30/1998 2:32:00 PM
From: Giraffe	Respond to of 116764

Oil prices slide again OPEC disappointment NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices hovered at 25-year lows on Monday as the market reacted with disappointment at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' failure to agree on a deal to soak up a global glut. ''We're slowly withering away here,'' an International Petroleum Exchange trader in London said. Crude oil fell 33 cents to $11.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. market, which was closed on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, had its first chance to react to news that OPEC had been unable to agree on any price propping measures. The cartel did agree, however, to next meet in March. Last week, oil slumped to $10.65, which adjusted for inflation, puts the price at a 25-year low. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Saud al-Sabah said Saturday that he feared prices could plunge to the $5 to $7 a barrel range. ''I am afraid that oil prices will deteriorate in the coming months,'' he said on his return from Vienna where OPEC held its winter meeting. The minister said producers needed to reduce output by an additional 1.5 million barrels a day to rescue prices. Bulging oil inventories, a mild winter and a divided OPEC could push prices even lower with no immediate reversal in the slump in sight, analysts said. ''There's no fear of supply shortage whatsoever,'' said Peter Bogin, associate director of Cambridge Energy Research in Paris. ''There's nothing out there giving the slightest hint that the supply and demand balance could tighten in the near term.'' Traders are hard-pressed to find any good news in the oil market. Inventories are high and a mild fall season in the United States has dampened demand, analysts said. ''It's a buyers' market,'' Bogin said. Last week, OPEC ministers met but shied away from taking any action to boost prices. Bitter rivalries between members -- most notably among Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran -- have divided the once powerful cartel, analysts said. On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates oil minister called on Iran and Venezuela to stick by their pledged production curbs. ''I think it is in their interest to cooperate to reach a consensus with the others,'' UAE Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Obeid bin Saif al-Nasseri told reporters. ''Without cooperation among countries, there will be no agreement and that will rule out any improvement.'' OPEC's 11 members meet again in March to consider options, which may include making more production cuts, which now stand at 2.6 million barrels a day. Also weighing on the market is the likelihood that Iraqi exports would resume shortly after Baghdad agreed to a fifth round of the ''oil-for-food'' deal with the United Nations. ''There will be hardly any interruption of Iraqi exports,'' Bogin said. ''In fact, you can expect Iraqi exports to start increasing in the second quarter of next year.'' Analysts said only cold Arctic air moving into the northeastern United States, which would spur demand for heating oil, or a major supply disruption could pull oil prices out of basement levels. ''It will take a combination of falling oil production and demand coming back to rescue prices, but neither of those will happen in the short term,'' Bogin said.