Heating oil prices show slight decrease

21/10/2009

Heating oil traded at 203.99 cents per gallon this Wednesday (October 21st), a 74-point decrease.

Brent crude oil for December delivery was trading at $77.05 per barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange, a fall of 19 cents.

Analysts are expecting the outlook to remain slightly bearish ahead of the Department of Energy data that is released later today.

Investors are anticipating the data as it may provide clues about the near-term future of the market, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Previous supporting factors for oil prices including a weak US dollar and strong equities are still being watched; however, the US petroleum report and China's macroeconomy data could be the most important factor.

Distillate stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, are expected to fall by 800,000 barrels each, a Dow Jones Newswires survey suggests, whilst oil inventories are expected to rise by 1.3 million barrels.

Ben Westmore, a commodities economist with National Australia Bank, suggested earlier this week that an increase in distillate stockpiles could have an impact on crude oil prices.