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Oil prices up as Opec hopes fade Oil price up on US supply slump
(about 2 hours later)
Oil prices rose on Thursday as hopes of a rise in output from next week's Opec meeting dwindled. 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.
October light sweet crude rose $1.02 (51 pence) to $76.75 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 46 cents to $74.80. Dwindling hopes of a rise in output from next week's meeting of producers cartel Opec, also pushed up prices.
A US government report due out later in the day was expected to show falling inventories of crude oil and gasoline. 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."