Oil prices held steady on Monday with few fresh factors affecting market sentiment, dealers said.
A barrel of Brent North Sea reference crude for May delivery was selling for $24.74 in London on Monday afternoon, unchanged from the overnight level. The price had peaked at $24.90 earlier in the morning.
In New York, the May light sweet crude contract rose 11 cents to $26.40.
The basket price of seven world crudes which the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) uses to guide production policy fell further on Friday to $22.79 a barrel from $22.95, according to the cartel's OPECNA information agency. OPEC is targeting a basket price of $25.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
