February 06, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 16, 1428

LONDON, Feb 5: World oil prices traded at the highest points for a month on Monday, as more icy weather was forecast to hit the United States, dealers said.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery added 61 cents to $59.02 per barrel in electronic deals after earlier hitting $59.39 -- which was last seen on January 3, 2007.

New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, advanced 53 cents to $59.55 per barrel in pit trading. It earlier peaked at $59.95 which was also last seen in early January.

Prices climbed above $59 per barrel on Monday “with expectations for continued cold weather in the US keeping sentiment well underpinned,” said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.

Crude futures had raced ahead on Friday after an OPEC cartel oil production cut took effect, combined with news of the ongoing US cold snap.

“We are getting more cold weather reports out of northeast US and this is boosting the demand for heating fuel and is the main driver for the climb in oil prices,” said CFC Seymour analyst Steve Rowles.

“The US economy is also showing strong growth and I think that with the prospect of showing more growth, sentiment is adding pressure on oil pricing to go up.”

The northeastern United States is the biggest consumer of heating oil in the world and the cold spell has raised concerns the country’s heating oil reserves could be used up quickly.

According to US weather forecasters, the northeastern region is expected to experience below-normal temperatures until February 15.

Last Wednesday, weekly US data showed a bigger-than-anticipated drop in and strong demand for distillate stocks, which include heating oil, as a result of the cold weather.

At the same time, the production cut by the Organisation by the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on February 1 may not have much of an impact at this stage, Rowles added.

“I don't think the cuts will have much of an impact on the market. The market has already taken into consideration the announced cuts and there hasn't been any news from OPEC in two weeks,” he said.

In December, Opec decided to reduce production by 500,000 barrels per day from February 1, following a cut of 1.2 million barrels per day in November.—AFP