Crude Oil traders are expecting the data from EIA on inventories. Expectations are that the data can show a jump of 1.9 million barrels for the week ending 16th Jan 2009.The EIA releases its report on Wednesday which was delayed by one day due to Marti Luther King Jr. holiday
Light, sweet crude for March delivery is up by $1.24 to settle at $44.79 a barrel on the New York Stock Exchange. MCX Crude Oil February expiry started the day on a positive note and is trading at Rs 2175 per barrel up Rs 82. The contract is expected to generate some losses if the inventory report comes as per expectations.
Crude prices have tumbled since the beginning of the year with global demand for energy falling. On Tuesday, the February contract closed below $40, the second consecutive month it has done so. Though crude prices fell 16 percent from the first trading day of the year until the contract expired Tuesday, retail gasoline prices have continued to rise.
On Wednesday, Iran's OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said that in the current global economic climate OPEC members should meet more regularly in order to evaluate the impact of their decision making, ISNA news agency reported.
"OPEC meetings should be held more frequently because the market's developments come quickly and the management of this crisis-hit market needs more frequent meetings," ISNA quoted Khatibi as saying.
OPEC currently meets twice a year, in March and September, to evaluate the oil market. The group, however, has the ability to call extraordinary meetings when it deems warranted. Since its last meeting in September last year, OPEC has held two extraordinary meetings, in October and December, as well as a consultative meeting in November. The next scheduled meeting is in Vienna on March 15.
source: Capital Market