OIL PRICES FALL AS WAR RHETORIC SUBSIDES AND OPEC CONTINUES TO OVERPRODUCE

Hart's Petroleum Finance Week, November, 2002

Oil prices fell last week as speculation continued that the United Nations would have to make a decision soon on a resolution to disarm Iraq, and that a military strike could be avoided. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to $26.86 per barrel for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, representing a $2.55, or 8 percent drop over seven days, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. It indicated that most market analysts trace the drop to traders' reduced anxieties about a possible U.S. attack of Iraq and growing supplies from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

News of continuing overproduction by OPEC members also put downward pressure on oil prices, according to EIA. It cited a Monday...

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