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ENERGY TECH
Oil prices slip on strong dollar, China data
by Staff Writers
London (AFP) May 13, 2013


Global oil prices fell on Monday on the back of the strong dollar and weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data, dealers said.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June sank 93 cents to $102.98 a barrel in late afternoon deals in London.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for June, shed 81 cents to $95.23 a barrel.

In foreign exchange activity, the dollar hit fresh multi-year highs versus the yen on Monday, after Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers and central bankers steered clear of criticising Japan over the recent weakening of its currency.

The dollar jumped to 102.15 yen -- a peak last reached in October 2008.

"The US crude price has ... suffered at the hands of the strengthening dollar," said dealer Jonathan Sudaria at traders Capital Spreads.

A stronger US unit makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using cheaper currencies. In turn, that tends to dent oil demand, eventually leading to lower prices.

Meanwhile, China's industrial output rose by a robust 9.3 percent in April compared with a year earlier, but the figure came under the consensus market forecast.

The figure weighed on sentiment because China is the world's biggest energy consuming nation.

"As a result of this, crude oil prices have continued to remain under pressure after the gains seen in the last couple of weeks as demand concerns and higher inventories weigh," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

"Last week's concerns about shorter term demand expressed by OPEC on Friday appear to have tempered upside for the time being."

Traders also digested comments from key OPEC member Iran, who hinted at lower output to compensate for falling oil prices.

Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi declared that the Islamic republic was unhappy with current oil prices.

"Iran's suggestion has always been to reduce (the) OPEC production ceiling," Rostam Qasemi told reporters at a petrochemical conference in Tehran.

"Market is not in a very bad situation but (the oil price) does not correspond to our expectations."

Qasemi also noted that Iran sees "ideal oil prices" above 100 dollars a barrel.

"We hope to find a solution at the next OPEC meeting," he added.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps about 35 percent of global oil supplies, will hold its next output meeting in Vienna on May 31.

OPEC boosted production to 30.21 million barrels a day in April from 29.93 million in March despite tight demand.

The cartel, in its April report released on Friday, forecast total average oil demand of 89.7 million barrels per day, up 0.8 million barrels from 2012. That was however unchanged from its March projection.

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