New York Oil Prices Rise to New Two-year High

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 17, 2003

New York Oil Prices Rise to New Two-year High

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Crude oil prices rose to the highest level in two years Thursday on the New York market amid traders' concerns about the possibility of a war between the United States and Iraq after the discovery of empty chemical warheads.

The price of crude oil for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) closed at 33.66 dollars per barrel, up45 cents dollars from Wednesday's close, the highest closing pricesince Nov. 30, 2000.

In London, the March North Sea Brent crude oil futures jumped 44 cents to 30.58 dollars a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.

The market sentiment moved up after the United Nations weapons inspectors discovered 11 empty chemical warheads southwest of Baghdad, while chief inspector Hans Blix said that the situation in Iraq "is very tense and very dangerous."

Traders were concerned about a possible disruption to supplies from Iraq and other oil producers in the Persian Gulf if the United States opens a war against Iraq, while a strike in Venezuela is already weighing on US inventories.

The Energy Department reported on Wednesday that US crude oil stocks fell by 6.4 million barrels to 272.3 million barrels last week, near the lowest level in 27 years. And another report from the American Petroleum Institute said that the nation's commercialstocks declined 3.26 million barrels in the previous week.

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