VOL. XLV

No 38

23-September-2002

OIL PRICES

PoliticsBearish, Fundamentals Bullish For Last Weeks CrudePrices

Politics and market fundamentalswere the main forces affecting crude prices last week. Baghdads announcementthat UN weapons inspectors would be allowed back into Iraq on anunconditional basis reduced prices early in the week. However, weekly US stocksdata showed strong declines in crude and products, indicating that in the US at leastthe recent supply/demand slackness has disappeared....