Oil sank from 2-1/2-year highs near $120 a barrel Thursday in a late-day rout, dragged down by an unsubstantiated rumor Muammar Gaddafi had been shot and Saudi Arabia's assurances it can counter Libyan supply disruptions. <table style="padding: 5px 15px 0pt 0pt;" width="1%" align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>
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A U.S. official said Washington had no reason to believe the Libyan leader was dead after the rumor swept through oil markets and sent prices tumbling more than $2 a barrel just before settlement.
Prices surged in early activity on news the Libyan revolt had caused large disruptions in the OPEC nation's oil supplies — potentially up to three-quarters of output — though the scale of the loss could not be confirmed.
Markets had earlier eased on news top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia was in talks with European refiners affected by the disruption.
London Brent crude [LCOCV1 111.11
-0.14 (-0.13%)
] hit $119.79 a barrel — the highest since August 2008 — in early activity then dropped to $110.51 late, marking the widest trading range for the benchmark since September 2008. Brent settled up 11 cents at $111.36 a barrel, dropping more than $1 in post-settlement activity.
U.S. light, sweet crude [CLCV1 96.65
-1.45 (-1.48%)
] for April delivery settled down 82 cents at $97.28 a barrel, after touching $103.41, the highest since September 2008.
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Current DateTime: 08:42:03 24 Feb 2011
LinksList Documentid: 41747050
Brent's performance pushed its premium to U.S. oil, which has been weighed down by high inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's U.S. oil contract, out more than a dollar to over $14 a barrel.
Further pressure on prices came after the International Energy Agency again called on OPEC to draw on excess oil production capacity if required to counter Libyan supply losses.
The IEA estimates the unrest has cut off 500,000 to 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Libyan output. Italian oil company ENI, the biggest foreign operator, estimated 1.2 million bpd of the country's 1.6 million bpd had been shut down as international firms pull out workers.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41747049
AP
Oil barrels<hr color="#c0c0c0" noshade="noshade" size="1"></td></tr></tbody></table>
A U.S. official said Washington had no reason to believe the Libyan leader was dead after the rumor swept through oil markets and sent prices tumbling more than $2 a barrel just before settlement.
Prices surged in early activity on news the Libyan revolt had caused large disruptions in the OPEC nation's oil supplies — potentially up to three-quarters of output — though the scale of the loss could not be confirmed.
Markets had earlier eased on news top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia was in talks with European refiners affected by the disruption.
London Brent crude [LCOCV1 111.11
-0.14 (-0.13%)
] hit $119.79 a barrel — the highest since August 2008 — in early activity then dropped to $110.51 late, marking the widest trading range for the benchmark since September 2008. Brent settled up 11 cents at $111.36 a barrel, dropping more than $1 in post-settlement activity. U.S. light, sweet crude [CLCV1 96.65
-1.45 (-1.48%)
] for April delivery settled down 82 cents at $97.28 a barrel, after touching $103.41, the highest since September 2008. RELATED LINKS
Current DateTime: 08:42:03 24 Feb 2011
LinksList Documentid: 41747050
Brent's performance pushed its premium to U.S. oil, which has been weighed down by high inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's U.S. oil contract, out more than a dollar to over $14 a barrel.
Further pressure on prices came after the International Energy Agency again called on OPEC to draw on excess oil production capacity if required to counter Libyan supply losses.
The IEA estimates the unrest has cut off 500,000 to 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Libyan output. Italian oil company ENI, the biggest foreign operator, estimated 1.2 million bpd of the country's 1.6 million bpd had been shut down as international firms pull out workers.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41747049
