Oil Price Rises Above US$103 A Barrel On US Data

THE price of oil rose for the first time in six days on upbeat news about the US economy. Benchmark oil for November delivery gained 37 cents yesterday to close at US$103.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil had dropped US$5.41, or five per cent, over the five previous trading sessions. Oil prices rose as data showed that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 5,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 305,000, the second-lowest level in six years. The US economy, meanwhile, was confirmed to have grown an annualised 2.5 per cent in the April-June period. Oil has fallen nearly seven per cent since closing at a two-year high of US$110.53 on Sept 6. Since then, diplomatic efforts have averted a US military strike against Syria, and tense relations between the US and Iran have shown signs of a thaw. As a result, the market has removed the so-called political risk premium from the price of oil. Some analysts put this premium at about US$5 to US$6 a barrel. Brent crude, the benchmark for international crudes used by many US refineries, rose 89 cents to US$109.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. In other energy futures trading on Nymex: — Wholesale gasoline rose three cents to US$2.71 per gallon. — Natural gas rose one cent to US$3.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. — Heating oil rose three cents to US$3.00 per gallon.