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Oil price up on US supply slump | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Oil prices rose above $77 a barrel on Thursday as official data showed that US reserves of crude and petrol had fallen more heavily than expected. | |
Dwindling hopes of a rise in output from next week's meeting of producers cartel Opec, also pushed up prices. | |
October light sweet crude rose 95 cents to $76.68 a barrel having climbed above $77 earlier. Meanwhile Brent crude surged 80 cents to $75.70. | |
The rise is a move towards the record high of $78.77, seen on 1 August. | |
'Tight market' | |
US Energy Information Administration figures showed that American crude reserves had slumped by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 31 August. Analysts had expected a drop of about 2.2 million barrels. | |
Meanwhile petrol inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels. | |
The new head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the high oil prices were sending a message to Opec about the tightness of the market. | The new head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the high oil prices were sending a message to Opec about the tightness of the market. |
Nobuo Tanaka took over as head of the Paris-based agency at the start of the month. | Nobuo Tanaka took over as head of the Paris-based agency at the start of the month. |
"The price level is a signal. The market is still very tight, but our concern is what will happen in the future," he said. | "The price level is a signal. The market is still very tight, but our concern is what will happen in the future," he said. |
He added that it was too early to judge what the effect of the turmoil in financial markets would be on demand for oil. | He added that it was too early to judge what the effect of the turmoil in financial markets would be on demand for oil. |
"We will have some kind of assessment by the end of the year." | "We will have some kind of assessment by the end of the year." |