Oil prices fall to six-week low
Wednesday 23rd July 2008, 11:29AM BST.
Oil prices have slipped to a six-week low as hurricane Dolly appears to be missing oil interests in the Gulf of Mexico.
US light sweet crude dipped to $125.63 a barrel, compared to the July high of $147 a barrel. London Brent crude also fell yesterday by $3.23 to $129.38 a barrel.
Falling prices have been attributed to the news an approaching tropical storm unlikely to affect supply.
In addition, the high price of oil – still 30 per cent higher than at the beginning of 2008 – is apparently putting off US motorists, lowering demand.
A survey from MasterCard found US gasoline demand dropped last week for the thirteenth week in a row and is down 2.2 per cent from the beginning of the year.
A strengthening dollar also made oil less attractive as a hedge for investors. Speculators have been blamed for the soaring price of oil but a report out today from a US government agency concludes investors are not at fault.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it “does not support the proposition that speculative activity has systematically driven changes in oil prices,” in its interim report.
The falling price of oil has led to several UK supermarkets that operate petrol stations lowering their prices for motorists.
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