Oil prices are on the rise again and natural gas prices hit an all-time high on Thursday as the US Department of Energy reported dwindling gas stocks and cold weather intensifies in northeastern Mexico. United States.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude for January delivery rose 1,45 to 60,66 dollars, breaking above the 60 mark for the first time since 4 November.

Natural gas was trading at its highest level at 15,08 USD per MBtu (British Thermal Unit) shortly before closing.

The gas boosted its progress Thursday after the release of natural gas stocks last week to United States.

They fell from 1,652 billion cubic meters to 88,65 billion m3, said the US Department of Energy (DoE).

Pulling in its wake the entire market (crude, petrol, heating oil), the gas boom caught analysts by surprise, who initially considered that the published figure was "neutral" because roughly in line with expectations, according to Bill O'Grady, analyst at AG Edwards.

For Mike Fitzpatrick, Fimat analyst, this increase "in no way reflects the state of the market". It can nevertheless be explained by the fear of seeing the demand for heating products increase as the cold sets in in the northeast of the USA, according to analysts.

Source: Yahoo News

Note from Rulian: More worrying news about the global energy market in the near future. The warning signals about the depletion of oil are becoming more and more numerous, especially in 2005 with the official announcement of the started decline of the two largest oil fields in the world: Ghawar (Saudi Arabia) and Burgan (Kuwait ).