Oil prices mixed as inventories stay high
Friday, 20 November 2009 18:35Oil prices dropped and were likely to stay under $80 because of high energy inventories in the US.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, fell 75 cents to $76.71 a barrel after slumping by more than $2 yesterday.
Brent North Sea crude for January delivery lost 61 cents to $77.03 in late London trading on Friday.
New York crude prices on Wednesday breached 80 dollars a barrel after government data showed crude reserves in the United States fell 900,000 barrels in the week ending 13 November.
However levels remain relatively high with demand struggling to recover following the financial crisis.
An array of largely unimpressive US economic data caused a fall on Wall Street as investors sought safety in the dollar, a traditional safe haven currency in times of distress.
In a volatile week for markets generally, crude oil prices soared $2.50 on Monday owing to a weak dollar and data showing that the Japanese economy expanded 1.2% in the months from July to September. It was the second quarter of expansion in the world's second-largest economy in a row.
Meanwhile, OPEC president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos has signalled that $75-80 oil is an adequate level to allow for a global economic recovery. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumps about 40% of the world's oil.
The oil market has also this week followed events in oil-exporter Nigeria, where its main armed group has accused the military of staging a dawn raid on a village in the restive crude-producing region, saying it could threaten peace talks.
