crude oil price down may 11 2012

crude oil price down may 11 2012 : Oil prices fell to below $96 a barrel Friday in Asia amid concern global crude demand will grow less this year than previously expected. Benchmark oil for June delivery was down $1.23 to $95.85 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 27 cents to settle at $97.08 in New York on Thursday. Brent crude for June delivery was down $1.03 at $111.70 per barrel in London.

Crude has slumped about 10 percent from $106 last week as traders mull signs the economies of the U.S., Europe and China are slowing. Analysts are also eyeing rising U.S. crude inventories, which rose last week to a 22-year high while OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, increased oil production by 320,000 barrels per day in April, according to Platts, the energy-information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Oil prices are likely to stay high due to geopolitical risks despite a dramatic improvement in world supply resulting in a big build in stocks, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

The agency, which advises 28 industrialised nations on energy policy, said global oil supply rose 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 91 million bpd in April and was now 3.9 million bpd over year ago levels, with 90 percent of the increase coming from OPEC.

The energy market is vulnerable to additional negative guidance from the U.S. economy, a slowing in the Chinese economic growth engine and a renewed heightening in European debt worries, In other energy trading, heating oil was down 3 cents at $2.95 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 3.4 cents to $2.98 per gallon. Natural gas fell 0.1 cent at $2.49 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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