Crude futures sink on Naimi comments

摘要

New York-February crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 1.78/barrel lower at 51.21/barrel January 16,continuing a two-week drop in prices that has pared the front-month contract by 9.85/barrel,or 16.12%.The catalyst for the January 16 selloff was comments from Saudi Oil Minister,Ali Naimi,that there was no need for OPEC to panic about the fall in prices and no need for an emergency meeting (see story page 1)."This stance by the Saudis is a bit mysterious given their aggressive approach of a few months ago in attempting to protect prices at around the 60 mark,"energy consultant Jim Ritterbusch said in a report."We can only surmise that lack of compliance by most of the [OPEC]membership could be behind the Saudi initiative in spearheading another meeting."