Heating oil up one cent

27/01/2009

Heating oil prices have risen one cent in the US this morning (January 27th), tracking gains made on crude oil.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, heating oil for February stood at $1.4397 (£1.0175) a gallon by 11:00 GMT, having earlier reached a high of $1.4655.

Meanwhile, crude oil rose above the $46 a barrel mark, extending gains made last week and eating into losses witnessed yesterday.

Analysts have attributed the rising prices witnessed in recent days in part to growing concern that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will enact another heavy cut on production.

In December, the group decided on a supply restriction of 2.2 million barrels a day.

"People are expecting Opec to really be serious and the weather's been cold in the northeast US and [Tokyo], so we're getting a bit of short-term demand," said Tony Nunan, a risk management executive at Mitsubishi, speaking to Reuters.

He added that while prices could rise further in the short term, there is little confidence about a sustained rally.