Oil fluctuated near $80 a barrel as strikes at Total SA refineries and depots in France supported prices of refined products such as gasoline and the dollar strengthened against the euro. Oil rose to a five week high after gasoline futures gained as much as 2 percent amid union calls on Total workers to extend walkouts. The dollar’s advance makes oil and other commodities less attractive as an alternative investment.
“Once you get up to the $80 level, it’s just having trouble maintaining that,” said Kyle Cooper, a managing director at energy consultant IAF Advisors in Houston. Demand from industrialized countries “just doesn’t support it. I think we’re stuck in a very broad range of $70 to $80 until something decisive happens.”
Crude oil for March delivery increased 27 cents to $80.08 a barrel at 1:46 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier it touched $80.51, the highest price since Jan. 13. The March contract expires at the close of trading today. The more-active April contract gained 27 cents to $80.33.
Workers at Total’s six French oil-processing plants and six of its 31 storage depots have been on strike since Feb. 16 to protest against the permanent shutdown of refining at its Flanders plant in northern France. The strike comes as weak demand has curtailed refinery production worldwide.
“When you have that coupled with the situation in the U.S. with the low run rates, it’s constructive for the overall market,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Round Earth Capital, a New York based hedge fund that focuses on food and energy commodities.....Read the entire article.
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