Middle East Economic Survey

VOL. XLIX

No 8

20-February-2006

OIL PRICES

Crude Prices Slide As US Gasoline Stockbuild Continues

Crude oil prices continued their recent slide last week, with WTI and Brent dropping below $60/B as US gasoline inventories rose for the seventh week in a row to 225.5mn barrels, the highest level since June 1999. Traders put to the back of their minds concerns about the threat of supply disruption from potential escalation of the Iran nuclear standoff and violence in...