Re: Oil Futures at Bodog.
Crude Oil Rises as Speculators Bet N.Y. Prices Will Top $100
By Mark Shenk
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose as speculators purchased contracts in anticipation that prices will top $100 a barrel in New York.
Oil prices may exceed that level next week as December futures and options contracts expire, said Edward Morse, the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. chief energy economist whose 2007 oil forecast was the highest among those surveyed, in a report today. Prices fell earlier today as producers in the North Sea restored output at platforms that were closed by a storm.
``There was bargain hunting once prices dipped below $95,'' said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. ``The recent pattern has been that any move lower has been met with renewed buying because all eyes are looking at $100 oil.''
Crude oil for December delivery rose 46 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $95.92 a barrel at 11:47 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures climbed to $98.62 on Nov. 7, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 57 percent from a year ago.
``Once again there was no follow-through when the market tried to correct,'' said Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas in New York. ``We're all eyeing the crude option expiration on Tuesday and eyeing $100.''
An oil options contract gives a buyer the right to buy or sell a specific quantity of crude-oil by a specific date and at specified price. Oil may test $100 on Nov. 13 when options expire, according to the Lehman report.
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