Nov 7 01:58 AM US/Eastern
By GILLIAN WONG
Associated Press Writer
SINGAPORE (AP) – Oil prices jumped to a trading record above $98 a barrel Wednesday amid expectations of declining U.S. supplies and following news of an attack on a Yemeni oil pipeline.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose as high as $98.03 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract Tuesday hit a high of $97.10 before closing at $96.70 a barrel, a record settlement.
“The oil market sentiment remains bullish … there is an overall upward trend toward the $100 level,” said Victor Shum, energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “Meanwhile, we can expect extreme volatility where on the one hand some traders will take profit while others will buy back positions.”
Traders remain worried about whether supplies will be adequate to meet demand for heating fuel in the approaching Northern Hemisphere winter. News of an attack Monday on an oil pipeline in Yemen added to those concerns.
Figures to be released later Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration are expected to show crude supplies dropped last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires predict, on average, that crude oil inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels.
“The price rise is really driven by expectations of drawdowns in crude oil and distillate stocks inventories in the U.S. inventory report,” said Shum. “Some cold weather reports out of the U.S. and Europe serve as a reminder that winter is coming and that there are still supply concerns.”
Oil inventories likely fell due to a suspension of output at Mexico’s state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, a major crude exporter to the United States, which temporarily shut its ports last week due to severe weather.
On Tuesday, the EIA predicted oil consumption will rise in the fourth quarter and next year despite higher prices, and that inventories will fall.
“Strong demand, limited surplus capacity, falling inventories and geopolitical concerns continue to weigh on the market,” the EIA said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook.
The weak U.S. dollar, which fell to a new low against the euro Tuesday, is also lifting oil prices. Oil futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling.
Analysts also expect the EIA to report Wednesday that gasoline inventories rose by 200,000 barrels during the week ended Nov. 2, while supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 500,000 barrels.
The analysts expect that refinery use grew by 0.8 percentage point to 87 percent of capacity.
In London, Brent crude rose 78 cents to $94.04 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. A number of North Sea oil platforms were being evacuated Tuesday ahead of expected severe weather.
Heating oil futures added 2.89 cents to $2.6367 a gallon, while gasoline prices rose 2.4 cents to $2.459 a gallon.
Natural gas futures rose 6.2 cents to $7.925 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
