World oil prices increase to more than $76
Global oil prices have experienced a dramatic improvement as a result of booming stock markets to the happiness of oil companies everywhere. London Brent North sea crude oil soared $2.11 dollars up to $76.48 a barrel and New York light sweet crude for delivery jumped $1.94 to £76.89. Prices benefited from a significant rebound in global equity markets due to predictions of a reduction in crude oil inventories in the US. Wall Street also experienced an improvement profits as good second-quarter earnings boosted optimism over America’s economic recovery from the recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 1.11 percent for blue chip stocks at a total of 10.329.26 points for early trades. Alcoa also achieved a net profit of $136 million for the second quarter, which compares to a loss of $454 million a year ago. Attention is now centred on Intel, a microchip giant, due to report on its earnings on Tuesday, July 13th.
The latest report from the IEA (International Energy Agency), an energy strategy branch of the OECD (Organisation for Cooperation and Development) highlighted a rise in global oil demand, at 86.5 million daily barrels, which is a 2.1 percent increase. However, the IEA is expecting a fall in oil demand in China and other countries in 2011, when oil prices are expected to average at $79.40 dollars a barrel. However, markets are expected to remain stable for now at least. In the meantime, the United States Department of Energy is expected to publish its weekly report on the state of oil reserves on Wednesday, July 14th.