Heating oil rebounds in early trading

21/04/2009

Heating oil futures have performed a volte-face on losses seen yesterday (April 20th) on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex).

During electronic trading this morning, near-term heating oil contracts had risen to $1.3454 (92.34p) a gallon by 05:13 Eastern Time, up 1.3 cents on yesterday's closing price.

Losses seen yesterday tracked heavy downward trading in Nymex crude futures, which lost nine per cent of their value over the course of the day.

The headline crude contract has held relatively steady during early trading today as investors await the latest stockpile figures from the Energy Information Administration.

Reuters polls indicate that reserves of crude, heating oil, DERV and other distillates rose again last week.

Speaking to the Telegraph, BP's chief economist Christof Ruehl said that this persistent weak demand could keep prices crude low for years to come, which in turn may subdue heating oil prices.