Oil prices close to $80 as demand improves

30/10/2009

Oil prices traded at slightly less than $80 per barrel this Friday (October 30th), following suggestions that demand for crude was increasing.

Benchmark US crude oil for December delivery was trading at $79.56 per barrel by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a fall of 31 cents as stockpile rises subdued market gains, reports the Associated Press.

The contract had settled at $79.87 on Thursday, following a $2.412 increase in price per barrel.

In a report Barclays Capital said: "The move higher in oil prices is, in our view, fundamentally justified. On the macroeconomic front, so far the path of recovery has surprised to the upside."

There have been some suggestions that the economic situation is improving with oil staying within touching distance of its highest price for 2009 of $82.

Data released by the Commerce Department showed that the US economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter.
Earlier this week data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that crude oil stockpiles rose by 900,000 barrels last week.