Crude oil prices rose substantially higher on Wednesday, 27 May 2009. Prices rose on hopes of global economic recovery.
On Wednesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June delivery closed at $63.45/barrel (higher by $1 or 1.6%). Last week, crude ended higher by 8.2%.
Crude ended April higher by 2.9%. Previously, March trading ended up 10.9%. It rallied 11.3% in the first quarter. For the month of February, crude prices had ended higher by 1.5%.
Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 52% since then. Year to date, in 2009, crude prices are higher by 31.3%. On a yearly basis, crude prices are lower by 45%.
In its latest annual report, EIA reported on international outlook for energy that global oil demand will grow to 91 million barrels a day in 2015 and 107 million barrels a day in 2030. Global oil supply will rise to 106.6 million barrels a day by 2030. The EIA also said natural-gas consumption will increase to 153 trillion cubic feet in 2030. The Energy Information Administration predicted in a newly released report that oil prices will rise to $110 in 2015 and $130 in 2030.
The Federal Agency reported on Wednesday, 27 May, that home prices fell 0.5% in the first quarter of the year, a much smaller pace of decline than in the final three months of 2008. It was down 7.3% in the past year. The FHFA price index measures sales of the same homes over time, and is therefore not influenced by a different mix of homes sold in a period as the median sales price is.
Also at the Nymex on Wednesday, June-reformulated gasoline rose 3.39 cents, or 2.1%, to $1.8917 a gallon, while June heating oil gained 1.64 cents, or 1.1%, to $1.5617 a gallon.
Natural gas for June delivery rose slightly to $3.537 per million British thermal units.
Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.
At the MCX, crude oil for June delivery closed at Rs 3,017/barrel, higher by Rs 75 (2.5%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for June delivery closed at Rs 173.8/mmbtu, higher by Rs 1.2/mmbtu (0.7%).