National Petroleum Authority, Ghana

Crude oil prices on the world market yesterday posted a sharp rise of $1.90 per barrel to sell at $82.18 per barrel.
According to British Petroleum sources, the main factor affecting the rise in oil yesterday was the weakening dollar, which dropped back by almost 1 cent during the day after the US Government announced their monetary policy of keeping interest rates low for an ‘extended period’. Other factors causing the rise in crude oil prices include the decision by the Bank of Japan yesterday to loosen monetary policy by doubling the pool of money that it releases to banks in the form of three month loans.
As news of a bill being introduced to the U.S. Senate, which will pressure for a rise in the yuan, hit the markets, China promptly commented that they currently ‘could not be any clearer’ over their view on the currencies level.
The API U.S. inventory data was also released yesterday, showing a 403,000 barrel build in crude stocks, lower than the 1.1m barrel build that analysts’ had previously forecast. Distillate inventories fell by 756,000 barrels, against the 1.1m barrel draw expected, while gasoline stocks drew by 3.7m barrels, a much bigger draw than the 800,000 barrel fall forecast. Refinery utilisation increased by 0.4% to 80.7%, but still lags the level seen in this period last year.