Oil prices crept back above $25 a barrel here on Tuesday before publication of weekly US stock figures and an interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve.
A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery was changing hands for $25.07, up from $24.81 at the previous close. New York April futures rose 19 cents to $26.34 a barrel.
The basket price of seven crudes worldwide used by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to help set quotas fell to $22.64 a barrel on Monday, from $23.09 on Friday, the OPECNA agency reported.
Traders were already turning their attention away from last Saturday's widely expected OPEC decision to cut output by one million barrels per day, or four percent, from April 1.
The focus was on the latest batch of US stock figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) to be published later Tuesday.
"Following the massive build up in crude stocks in last week's report, traders are concerned there may be another surge in imports (and a large stock build) which will lead to another sell off," GNI brokerage analyst Lawrence Eagles said.
In the short term, an important issue would be "when refiners will start to build stocks with such a vigour that will mop up the current surplus in the physical market," he said. "Until that happens prices will not start to resume their upward trend."
The market was also waiting to see how deep a rate cut Fed policymakers would deliver at their meeting later on Tuesday to ward off full-blown recession in the United States.
Traders are concerned that a global economic slowdown will sap demand for crude and undermine prices.
"In the longer term the key issue is how quickly the US economy rebounds," Eagles said. Some traders were looking for a rate cut of 0.75 percentage points "because of weakness in the equity markets," Eagles added..—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
