Oil steady at $133

Tue May 27, 2008 8:00am BST
 
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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil hovered at around $133 a barrel on Tuesday, little changed from a day ago when news of another attack on Nigerian oil facilities refocused concerns on immediate supplies.

U.S. crude stood at $133.18 a barrel by 0647 GMT (7:47 a.m. British time), little changed from late electronic trade on Monday, when the New York Mercantile Exchange trading floor was shut for the Memorial Day holiday. Prices were up 99 cents versus Friday's close.

London Brent crude rose 63 cents to $133.00.

"The market still looks bullish, the dollar is still weakening and under current conditions it is pushing commodities and oil higher," said Marc Lansonneur, Societe Generale's head of commodities derivatives in Asia.

Oil prices have risen nearly 40 percent this year, supported by the extended slide in the U.S. dollar as well as growing fears about the industry's ability to keep pace with demand over the next decade due to disappointing non-OPEC output growth.

"The most important fundamental that is driving the market...is that there will be a shortage in the coming years," Lansonneur said.

On Monday, OPEC President Chakib Khelil reiterated that the cartel would not be meeting earlier than its scheduled gathering in September to discuss rising prices, the website of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) reported.

OPEC has been adamant that the market remains well balanced and there is no need to raise production levels, blaming the rise in prices on financial speculators or other factors outside its control.

Prices rose on Monday as Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it was forced to cut production in Nigeria after rebels from the southern Niger Delta blew up an oil pipeline.  Continued...

 
A share trader is pictured behind a mock one dollar bill and a mock 500 Euro note symbolizing a consumer credit note, at the German stock exchange in Frankfurt, December 18, 2008. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
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