Heating oil climbs alongside crude

16 February 2010

Written by John King

Heating oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed during electronic trading this morning (February 16th), with a rally in Asian equities providing support for global fuel demand.

Crude oil prices also recorded gains, with the headline contract trading close to $75 (€54) a barrel as European markets opened. Heating oil contracts gained 1.5 cents to trade around the $1.933-a-gallon mark.

Although rallying stocks in Asia provided support for commodities during early trading, analysts expressed further concern that the European sovereign debt crisis would continue to weigh on oil demand.

Speaking to Reuters, Ben Westmore, a commodities analyst at the National Australia Bank, said there was growing concern about the sustainability of EU recovery.

"There is a lot of sitting and waiting; at $74 oil seems to be reasonably priced based on fundamentals at the moment," he commented.

EU finance ministers have given Greece a month to contain its debt crisis with fiscal control instruments and reiterated a pledge to support the country should it fail to do so.

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