Oil prices split on lower US supplies, OPEC gloom
New York (AFP) - Oil prices in New York gained Wednesday following a drop in US crude inventories, while the international benchmark Brent fell on gloom after last week's OPEC decision to maintain output.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in January rose 50 cents to close at $67.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
European benchmark Brent oil for January delivery fell 62 cents to $69.92 a barrel in London.
Analysts attributed the rise in the US futures contract to a US Department of Energy inventory report that showed a 3.7 million barrel drop in US crude inventories for the week ending November 28.
WTI had "a little bit of a bounce, most probably because of the drop of inventories," said James Williams of WTRG Economics.
The inventories report showed US refineries ramping up processing as the plant utilization rate rose to 93.4 percent of capacity from 91.5 percent the prior week.
However, the price drop in Brent illustrated that "the overall market is continuing to show reverberations from last week's OPEC meeting," said Andy Lebow, senior vice president at Jefferies Bache.
Oil prices fell sharply after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Thursday took no action to curtail supply, despite a drop in WTI from more the $100 a barrel in June.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified officials, reported that Saudi Arabia now believes oil prices could stabilize around $60 a barrel.
"The fundamentals certainly would indicate that you'd have some downside" to oil prices, Lebow said.
