NEW YORK, Nov. 20 (AFP) — World oil prices plumbed new five-month lows here Friday despite forecasts by the OPEC cartel of a rise in energy demand this year, especially from rapidly growing China.
Investors were also monitoring US energy stocks and changing weather patterns across the northern hemisphere ahead of winter.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, dipped 20 cents to close at 56.14 dollars a barrel, its worst finish since June 15. At one point, the contract was as low as 55.40 dollars.
But in London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery rebounded by three cents to 54.88 dollars a barrel.
"I think that’s just a little bit of end-of-week shortcovering," Refco analyst Marshall Steeves said of the decline in New York.
"We’re moving into the winter season so heating oil prices are bound to consolidate here. But we still have plenty of crude oil in storage so there’s no fundamental reason for crude oil prices to move higher," he said.
Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish disagreed about the market trend.
"The arrival of cooler weather in parts of Europe and the US, stronger US weekly oil data and a pickup in Chinese demand indications all suggest that the downtrend in crude oil prices may now be coming to an end," he said.
But Norrish added: "The market probably needs a burst of much colder weather to jolt it out of its current bearish mood."
New York crude futures have shed nearly 21 percent since striking an alltime high of 70.85 dollars on August 30, after Hurricane Katrina tore through US Gulf Coast energy facilities.
Recent mild weather in the northern hemisphere, which has since begun to turn colder, has granted refiners time to rebuild stocks.
However, demand for crucial heating fuel is forecast to soar when winter proper kicks in.
