Heating oil flat, crude moves lower

10 March 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Near-term heating oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange had made fractional gains above $2.09 (€1.54) a gallon as European markets opened this morning (March 10th), clinging to gains while crude prices dipped.

Following recent mid-week trading trends, crude dipped on demand weakness in the US, with American Petroleum Institute figures released yesterday showing crude inventories rose 6.5 million barrels in the week ending March 5th.

Traders are now awaiting the latest demand figures from the Energy Information Administration to corroborate the extent of the inventory build.

A poll conducted by Bloomberg revealed expectations that weekly inventory figures from the Energy Department subdivision will show a rise of two million barrels across the US.

The organisation also tracks inventory movements in heating oil, propane and gasoline stocks.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank, commented: "The recovery does look like it's becoming entrenched but things are still quite slow."

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