Another sign where we shall hold our grounds to NO PETROL DAY for this month!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS 14th FEBUARY 2008 NO PETROL DAY!!!

AFP – Monday, February 4

SINGAPORE, Feb 4, 2008 (AFP) – World oil traded flat in Asia on Monday after concerns for the US economy appeared to outweigh the impact of OPEC’s decision to hold output steady, dealers said.

In morning trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was three cents lower at 88.93 dollars a barrel.

On Friday the contract plunged 2.79 dollars to close at 88.96 dollars per barrel, after briefly rising into positive territory following OPEC’s widely-expected decision to leave its output quotas unchanged.

It was the first time this year that the New York benchmark contract closed below the psychological 89-dollar level.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was two cents higher at 89.46 dollars a barrel after settling 2.77 dollars lower at 89.44 dollars a barrel in London on Friday.

At its meeting in Vienna on Friday, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps 40 percent of world oil, held its official daily output at 29.67 million oil barrels.

Shortly after OPEC’s announcement, fresh US economic data led to renewed fears for economic growth in the world’s biggest energy consumer.

A US government report showed the economy lost 17,000 non-farm jobs in January. It was the first jobs loss in more than four years and indicated the strains from a housing crisis and a related credit crunch were spreading through the world’s biggest economy, analysts said.

There may have been some reassessment of energy demand after the US data release, along with some profit-taking, said David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

“It’s possible, I suppose, that these themes have continued a little bit in this morning’s trade,” he said.

The market may also be already looking ahead to an easing of demand at the end of the Northern hemisphere winter next month, Moore added.

Mike Fitzpatrick, an analyst at MF Global, said the latest US data “should further burden a market concerned with weakening demand.”

US President George W. Bush, expressing worries over the global economic impact of high oil prices, had expressed hopes that OPEC would increase output.

Explaining its decision, the 13-nation cartel said stockpiles of crude were likely to increase in the first half of this year. The group also noted “the projected economic slowdown”.

Ministers from OPEC are to meet again on March 5.

The cartel remains concerned about a potentially deep recession in the United States, which could reduce demand growth for energy, oil analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at Sucden brokerage said earlier.

The International Energy Agency, which represents the interests of oil-consuming countries, Friday tacitly accused OPEC of increasing pressure on a vulnerable world economy by its refusal to pump more oil to help bring down crude prices.

Since striking a high above 100 dollars at the start of the year, New York oil prices have slid owing to fears of a US recession and a global economic slowdown.

But crude futures are still almost double the level of a year ago.

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