January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

LONDON, Jan 25: World oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday following news of rising distillates and gasoline stockpiles in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of energy, dealers said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, sank $1.46 to $65.60 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery plummeted $1.34 to $64.00 per barrel in electronic deals.

Crude futures on Monday had soared to $69.20 per barrel in New York for the first time in more than four months on global supply concerns but have since fallen strongly on profit-taking caused largely by an offer from Saudi Arabia to supply more crude if necessary.

According to data from the US Department of Energy’s weekly inventories report on Wednesday, the increases in gasoline and distillates stocks were both around three times higher than market expectations.

Supplies of distillate products, used to make heating fuel and diesel, rose 1.8 million barrels to 136.5 million last week, the DoE said.—AFP