Heating oil prices little changed but under pressure

14 September 2010

Written by Neil Brunskill

Heating oil prices were little changed during electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today (September 14th), hanging on to gains made yesterday.

Both crude and heating oil were under pressure during the Asian and European trading sessions as the dollar rose against the euro, reducing demand for dollar-priced assets among foreign traders.

However, support came as Enbridge Energy continued to carry out repair work on the largest pipeline between the US and Canada, which has now been shut off for five days following a leak.

Olivier Jakob, an analyst at consultants Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland, told Reuters: "The Enbridge disruption will be the main focus for the oil markets this week. We're still waiting for some clarity on when the end to the disruption will be."

Traders will be looking ahead to this week's petroleum inventory reports to assess the impact that the Enbridge closure has had on fuel demand in the US.

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