Oil prices flatten as Hurricane Ida worries ease

LONDON (AFP) – World oil prices flattened on Tuesday as worries subsided over the potential threat posed by Hurricane Ida to petroleum installations in the US Gulf of Mexico, analysts said.

Traders also digested the latest oil demand and price forecasts from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), which is a global energy watchdog that advises industrialized nations.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, eased two cents to 79.41 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained just three cents to 77.80 dollars in London trading.

Crude futures had rebounded on Monday on dollar weakness and concerns over Hurricane Ida's potential damage, despite being downgraded to a tropical storm.

"The (New York) crude oil price returned to the 80-dollar level yesterday, but came renewed under selling pressure again this morning," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

"Hurricane Ida, which contributed to yesterday's price gains, has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

"However, oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico are still adversely affected by the storm," Fritsch added.

Elsewhere, the IEA predicted on Tuesday that the oil price, excluding inflation, would be 100 dollars a barrel in 2020 and 115 dollars in 2030, and added that demand would increase by one percent per year.

Global demand would rise from 85 million barrels per day in 2008 to 105 mbd in 2030, assuming that forthcoming negotiations on global warming in Copenhagen did not result in immediate big changes in energy policies, the IEA forecast.

The average oil price this year would be about 60 dollars per barrel against a background of weak economic activity, according to the IEA.

The price would then rise with economic recovery to 115 dollars a barrel in 20 years' time in constant dollar valuations, meaning after stripping out the effect of inflation, the International Energy Agency said.

Meanwhile, top oil-producing countries fear the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen next month could levy new taxes on the oil and gas industries, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Khelil told the Algerian APS news agency that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel of oil-rich nations, are worried any new taxes could have "a negative impact on their economies."

Khelil said OPEC, of which Algeria is a member, would work to strike a common position ahead of the December conference "in order to protect their interests."