Heating oil falls amid weak demand data

29/07/2009

Wholesale heating oil prices moved lower for a second day this morning (July 29th) as Asian investors took stock of the latest demand data from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

According to the organisation, crude inventories in the US rose 4.07 million barrels last week amid weakening demand for the commodity.

Traders are now turning their attention to the latest report from the Energy Information, which will publish figures covering crude, gasoline, heating oil and propane inventories later today.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Bache Commodities in London, commented: "The build in crude stocks is a reminder of how poor the demand fundamentals are."

Crude oil futures also fell sharply during electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning, extending losses yesterday which brought the longest run seen this year to an abrupt end.

Both crude and heating oil were weighed down yesterday by weaker trading in equities markets around the globe.