Oil prices lose ground

LONDON – Oil prices lost ground yesterday as traders awaited the traditional weekly snapshot of crude inventories in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of energy. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, shed 16 cents to US$56,82 (N$386) per barrel in electronic dealing.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for December delivery lost 22 cents to US$54,96 dollars per barrel. The US Department of Energy (DoE) was due to release its energy report on the country’s petroleum inventories later yesterday.Another major influence is the weather in the northern hemisphere, which is still regarded as mild for this time of the year, they added.Market expectations are for a two-million-barrel build in US crude stocks and a 700 000-barrel rise in distillates.-Nampa-AFPThe US Department of Energy (DoE) was due to release its energy report on the country’s petroleum inventories later yesterday.Another major influence is the weather in the northern hemisphere, which is still regarded as mild for this time of the year, they added.Market expectations are for a two-million-barrel build in US crude stocks and a 700 000-barrel rise in distillates.-Nampa-AFP