Oil fell in Asian trade today. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, dipped 1.28 dollars to 99.88 dollars per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for April delivery lost 1.39 dollars to 112.45. Analysts say, there might be some demand disruptions due to the Japanese earthquake, but there will be an increase in fuel oil imports due to the lost nuclear power capacity, which will be supportive of fuel oil prices in the near term. Crude futures fell immediately last week in reaction to Friday's massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake off Japan, unleashing a tsunami that battered the country's northeast coast and stretched across the Pacific.Traders worry the disaster will affect energy consumption in Japan, the world's third largest economy. Meanwhile, Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed Saleh al-Sada has said, the world oil output is sufficient despite the unrest in Libya which had slashed the country's crude production.Libya was producing 1.69 million barrels per day before the unrest. Of this 1.2 million bpd was exported, mostly to Europe but with China and the United States also major customers. The unrest has cut Libya's output by 1.4 million barrels per day to less than three lakh barrels. The price of oil on world markets has soared since the mid-February outbreak of the anti-government uprising.
News On AIR | March 14, 2011 10:00 PM
Oil prices fall in Asian trade