20-02-2008
Oil prices fall below $100 benchmark
News by Adfero for Simply Business - independent providers of public liability insurance, business finance, landlord insurance, buy-to-let mortgages & commercial mortgages.
After crossing a threshold of $100 (£51.46) per barrel during trading yesterday (February 19th), oil prices have once again fallen downwards.
Despite yesterday's rise in New York, oil prices during today's trading in Asia saw the price of sweet crude dropping to a per-barrel rate of $99.28.
The price increase has been blamed on concerns that the members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would reduce output levels.
"It's just a bit of a correction. The market is settling down after such a massive move last night," said Peter McGuire, managing director of Commodity Warrants Australia.
Akio Yoshino, chief economist at Societe Generale Asset Management, added: "The move upwards for oil prices driven by geopolitical fears may be slightly excessive but real concerns remain over the impact on corporate earnings."
During yesterday's trades, the price of crude reached a high of $100.10, before falling to a lower rate of $100.01.
In contrast, OPEC's daily basket price set the per barrel price of oil at $92.64.