Oil Prices Go Up

Alex Kofi Mould - NPA CEO

Oil sold at $83 per barrel yesterday amid strong Chinese demand and rebel attacks on Nigerian supplies.

Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 80 cents to $83.55 per barrel at midday in Singapore and on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Friday, the contract rose 9 cents to settle at $82.75.

China said on Sunday that its oil imports rose 14 percent last year to a record high in December, representing a 56 percent surge in overall imports last month.

Crude prices have spiked 20 percent in the last month due to hash cold winter weather in parts of the US, Europe and Asia and high demand for oil products such as heating oil.

Supplies were also threatened in Nigeria where unidentified gunmen attacked a Chevron crude oil pipeline, cutting production by 20 000 barrels per day, a company spokesperson said on Saturday.

“If oil prices continued to surge in the coming weeks, then the price of petroleum products on the local market would be adjusted upwards.

Presently, the price of crude oil which sells at GH¢1.17 per petrol, representing approximately GH¢5.27 per gallon and diesel which goes for GH¢1.18 per liter, representing a little over GH¢5.31 per gallon, would go up if crude oil continues to rise on the world market.

Kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which  sells at GHp91.00 per liter, representing GH¢4.09 per gallon and GHp83.81per kilogramme, would also go up.

Meanwhile, German's second largest bank Bayerische Landesbank stated that crude oil would sell at $88 a barrel, capped by a trend-line connecting the highest prices of the past six months.

The surge would not last much longer, as prices are in excess of their fair value and heading for a layer of resistance at $88, according to Germany's second-biggest state-owned lender.

Oil price would intersect a trend-line at $88 a barrel on June 30 and October 21, Gerrit Zambo, a trader at BayernLB said, adding that the rally would dissipate at this point. “I see a little more potential for prices in the higher $80s but they are already overvalued. After a few weeks, there would be a correction which would be valued between $60 and $70,” he added.

From Business Desk