LONDON, 24 March 2004 — Oil prices rebounded yesterday, fuelled by simmering violence in the Middle East a day after Israel assassinated the founder of Hamas, traders said. The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for May delivery rose 26 cents per barrel to $33.06 in late trading here.
New York’s reference light sweet crude May contract climbed 23 cents to $37.23 in early deals. “A quiet trading day has livened up on early reports of the explosions in Gaza City,” ED and F Man analyst Graham Flint said. “It’s a good rally, but we haven’t broken out of the range yet,” he added, indicating that there was scope for prices to go higher before trading ended for the day.
Traders were also focusing their attention on a forthcoming meeting of OPEC when the cartel plans to cut output. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is under pressure from importers to delay a planned move to cut output by one million barrels per day from April 1 given recent high prices.
Meanwhile, US gasoline prices have hit an all-time high, and will likely go higher because of supply and demand issues, the American Automobile Association said yesterday.