Brent crude falls, heating oil holds steady

23/09/2009

Brent crude fell slightly, by 13 cents, to $70.40 on the ICE Futures exchange on Wednesday (September 23rd), reports the Associated Press.

Heating oil remained at $1.81 a gallon and gasoline for October delivery held steady at $1.77 a gallon.

With the weakened US dollar and lack of demand for crude oil, oil prices in Asia were at slightly more than $71 a barrel.

Despite signs of an economic recovery consumer demand in the US has remained subdued and prices have been within the $65 to $75 range for months.

Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said: "The reason oil is trading in this range is this battle between weak supply fundamentals and optimism for economic recovery."

He added that consumers and producers seemed content with this level.

Purvin & Gertz is an international energy consulting firm with headquarters located in Houston, Texas and international offices in the US, Canada, South America, Asia, Europe, Russia and the Middle East.