Robust oil prices again dominated commodity markets this week, as western governments waited in vain for signs of a dip in prices following OPEC pledges to boost output.
Oil futures remained well above 30 dollars a barrel for the fifth week running, with the London November contract for Brent North Sea crude holding above 33 dollars on Friday.
Following urgent pleas from embattled Western leaders for more crude volumes to cool the market, the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) promised an additional 800,000 barrels a day from October and said further supply hikes could follow if the price crisis intensified.
But the promises had little impact on a market that has suffered acute concerns in recent weeks that supply will not match demand this winter in the northern hemisphere -- particularly if a cold snap bites early.
Tension between Iraq and Kuwait late in the week and a tropical storm swirling around the Gulf of Mexico did little to assuage supply concerns, but analysts were backpedalling from predictions of the 40-dollar barrel arguing that such high prices were not even in OPEC's interest.
Elsewhere base metals remained firm, but gold was still lacklustre amid thin trading, and sister metals palladium and platinum came off highs amid hopes of more regular exports from Russia.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
