Opec president confident of price fall in mid-2005

Khaleej Times Online

JAKARTA – Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday he is confident that global oil prices will fall in the second quarter of 2005 due to a decline in world demand.

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Khaleej Times Online

JAKARTA – Opec president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday he is confident that global oil prices will fall in the second quarter of 2005 due to a decline in world demand.

“I am convinced that in the second quarter of 2005, demand for oil will go down and this will surely have an impact on the development of oil prices. Therefore, I am confident oil prices will go down in the second quarter of 2005,” Yusgiantoro told reporters here.

Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) closed up 50 cents at 49.44 dollars a barrel on

Wednesday, stoked by nagging concerns that US heating oil stocks could face a supply crunch in coming weeks.

Oil prices have fallen by about 16 per cent in New York from all-time highs seen last month but remain up 44 per cent so far this year.

Analysts said prices are also drawing support from expectations that the Opec group will soon reduce output after increasing production to close to full capacity in recent months in response to record-high prices.

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