Oil rises despite concerns

15/04/2009

The cost of crude oil continued to rise in trading on Wednesday, despite concerns that demand was falling.

Despite falling back below $50 per barrel earlier in the week, crude futures have continued to crawl back toward this level.

According to Bloomberg, futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange stood at $49.68, up 27 cents, in early trading.

Heating oil futures also rose on the benchmark exchange, standing at 140.57 cents per gallon, up by .34 cents.

Despite the fact that prices fell down to well below $40 per barrel earlier in the year, a recovery has been under way over the course of the last month. However, progress has stalled at around the $50 per barrel level, the Associated Press reports.

And with demand continuing to falter, it is unlikely that further price rises will occur in the near future, energy analyst at the National Australia Bank in Melbourne Ben Westmore tells the news provider.