January 3, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 29, 1423

LONDON, Jan 2: Oil prices spurted higher on Thursday in response to figures showing a big fall in US oil stock levels that analysts said was the result of a month-old strike in Venezuela.

The price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for February delivery rose to $29.12 a barrel from $28.66 at the end of trading on Tuesday.

In New York, the benchmark light sweet crude February contract firmed 50 cents a barrel to $31.70 in early deals.

London and US markets were closed on Wednesday for the New Year’s Day holiday.

“There’s only one driver (for the market) and that’s the US inventory statistics,” said Peter Gignoux, head of petroleum desk at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney.

The American Petroleum Institute, a private trade association, said US crude oil stocks fell by 9.1 million barrels to 277.5 million in the week to December 27 from the previous week — a much bigger fall than expected.

The report was released late on Tuesday, after trading had closed.

Gignoux said the decline in US oil imports included in the stock estimates highlighted the impact the strike in Venezuela is having on the global oil market.—AFP