Oil, Pushing $60, May Rise Further on Fuel Demand

Crude oil prices, which rose to $60 a barrel in New York this week for the first time, are more likely to rise than fall next week on speculation increasing fuel demand will sap U.S. inventories, a Bloomberg survey shows.

Twenty-four of 50 analysts and strategists surveyed, or 48 percent, said oil prices will rise next week. Sixteen, or 32 percent said they will fall, and 10 forecast little change.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles have dropped three weeks in a row, raising concern suppliers are failing to match the needs of refiners to make gasoline for summer travel and stockpile heating oil for next winter. Demand for oil products in the past four weeks was 1.7 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
Bloomberg