Oil futures rallied in New York amid rising speculations about the quantitative measures to be announced by the U.S. Federal Reserve today.
Crude oil futures for November delivery rose 41 cents, or up to 0.5 percent, to trade at $83.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures for November delivery traded at $82.92 a barrel as of 10:00 a.m. London time. Brent crude futures for December settlement was at $84.25 a barrel, showing a 6 cent increase, on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
Goldman Sachs forecasted “substantially higher prices” for oil in the second half of 2011, thus giving a boost to its current valuation. The bank estimates that oil prices will jump to $85 a barrel from its current median price of $80. The slumping values of the U.S. dollar inversely affected the oil as the greenback is on its fourth-day of decline against the euro.
Crude inventories dropped 416,000 barrels to 360.5 million, according to
data released by the U.S. Department of Energy. The report showed a 0.7 percent
decline in fuel consumption in the U.S.,
or about 18.3 million barrels a day, indicating the lowest level since
November. Refiners operated at 81.9 percent of capacity, the lowest rate since
March, the Energy Department report said.
A Bloomberg survey report suggested the stockpiles would rise 1.45 million barrels, up around 7 percent from the year ago period.
OPEC maintained its current oil production quotas and showed an overall consensus over the current prices during a meeting yesterday; the organization produces around 40 percent of global crude supply.
