London Brent crude oil prices increase

23/10/2009

London Brent crude oil for December delivery was trading at $79.92 a barrel this Friday (October 23rd), an increase of 41 cents on London's ICE Futures exchange, reports Marketwatch.

November heating oil prices were trading at 210.01 cents per gallon, an increase of 55 points.

Oil prices have been pushed up amid expectation that the US currency will continue its recent weakening.

Mark Pervan, head of commodity research of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, said: "The obvious driver is the dollar."

He added that the price could move up to $85 next week.

Paul Ting, a consultant specialising in China's energy sector, said that China's oil demand grew by 14 per cent in September and nearly 16 per cent in August, enough to at least partly explain the price rally.

Earlier this week Ben Westmore, an energy and minerals economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne, said that if draw-downs in distillates continued to be seen, then it is likely that in trend terms there could be a move north.