OPEC Crude Price Continues to Drop
OPEC crude price continues to drop
VIENNA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) — The average price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) basket of 11 crudes stood at 56.55 US dollars a barrel last week, down 1.08 dollars from a week earlier, showed statistics from the Vienna-based OPEC Secretariat.
The oil price on international market has been spiralling lower as US demand for crude oil and gasoline continues to decrease. OPEC’s average oil price has fallen from 58.11 dollars a barrel last Monday to 53.72 dollars last Friday, with prices falling by nearly 1 dollar on average each trading day. It is the first time since the last trading day in July that the OPEC oil price has dropped below 54 dollars a barrel.
Reports said currently 12 refineries still remain shut due to the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman predicted last week that the oil producing and processing in the Gulf of Mexican will recover in 6 months due to the enormous damages wreaked by the two hurricanes on US oil-producing facilities.
Analysts pointed out that the devastation caused by the hurricanes had exposed US petroleum’s industry’s fragility. And the refineries’ slow pace of recovery has eased the demand for crude oil.
The oil price on international market could drop to 55 dollars a barrel by November, some analysts estimated.
The European Commission — the executive arm of the 25-nation European Union — expected that under the influence of oil prices, the economic growth rate of countries in the euro zone this year would be only 1.2 percent. However, the inflation rate could rise to 2.5 percent. It also said that the oil price on the international market will remain high and stand above 60 dollars a barrel in 2006 and 2007.
According to statistics issued by energy information provider Platts and sources with the oil industry on Friday, the daily output of crude oil of the 11 members states of OPEC in September was 30.31 million barrels, 50,000 barrels over August. But the growth has been largely contributed by Iraq.
Iraq’s daily output of crude oil in September reached almost 2 million barrels, up 100,000 barrels over August.