NEW YORK, May 2: Oil prices rebounded from 10-week lows on Monday as speculative buying stemmed a prolonged losing streak that had been triggered by swelling US crude stocks and high Opec production. “Trading is a bit thin with London closed today,” said Marshall Steeves, analyst at Refco Group. “It looks like some locals and funds came in and pushed it above $50 and found some buy stops there.”
US light crude surged $1.08 to $50.80 a barrel after dropping as low as $49.03 a barrel earlier in the day, the lowest since February 22. Prices remained about 13 per cent below the record $58.28 struck on April 4. Markets were closed in London and Singapore for the May Day holiday.
Oil prices have been under selling pressure due to soaring crude stockpiles in the United States, the world’s largest energy consumer. Last week as US crude stocks jumped by a surprising 5.5m barrels as imports rose to almost 10.9m barrels per day, the third-highest weekly volume on record.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has pledged to increase supplies to cool prices down to below $50 a barrel, which has helped to build US crude stockpiles to the highest level since mid-2002.
