VOL. XLV

No 2

14-January-2002

OIL PRICES

Crude Market Distorted By Short-Covering And US DemandWeakness

The prices for the front month WTIand Brent benchmark crudes fell overall last week, and were given a bumpy ride becauseof short-covering by speculators and new US data showing demand weakness. AsOPEC and non-OPEC cuts began to bite, much of the early price strength wasattributable to speculation by NYMEX and IPE players. Symptomatic of thecurrent market distortion was the fact that Brent was...