NEWS PUBLICATIONS 24 Jul 2009 Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange have continued to rise in recent trading, increasing by around one dollar compared to yesterday's prices. A barrel of crude for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $67.21 (£40.80) at 03:53 Eastern Time this morning. Spot prices for dated Brent crude also rose ever closer to the $70 mark, hitting $69.04 by 04:38 in electronic overnight trading. In Asian trading on Friday, crude prices edged back after making large gains on overnight trading on Thursday, Dow Jones reports. A drop on the Asian markets may have come from a slightly stronger dollar, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia David Moore told the news provider. Toby Hassall, a research analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia, added that there is a belief that demand for fuel will return in the near future. Nonetheless, such a belief seemed to exist earlier in the week, but further increases in US stockpiles proved expectations to be wrong at this stage and prices dropped back slightly. 24 Jul 2009 The cost of heating oil has continued to follow an upward curve in the latest trading sessions on key exchanges. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), heating oil futures rose to $1.7818 (£1.0838) per gallon, by 04:23 Eastern Time this morning. Futures prices for other derivatives also rose, with the RBOB gasoline price up to $1.9196. A number of factors have helped to support prices toward the end of the week's trading, with expectation of lower exports of crude from OPEC countries being one factor. Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, told Reuters that the financial markets are now once again the key player in oil price movements. Besides this, a drop in refinery output has helped to boost prices for derivatives such as heating oil. It remains to be seen whether OPEC will in fact cut oil output. The organisations' next ordinary meeting is scheduled to be held on September 9th. 23 Jul 2009 The price of crude oil edged above $65 in late trading on Wednesday and has held above this mark in early Thursday trading, buoyed as it was by stronger equity markets. Crude futures for September delivery hit $65.48 (£39.61) at 04:23 Eastern Time this morning, while spot prices of dated Brent were more than a dollar higher at $66.68 per barrel. Heating oil prices, meanwhile, rose further, reaching $1.7165 per gallon. Despite a drop in prices earlier this week, a return to price increases follows a trend that has seen a barrel of crude rise in cost from below $59 two weeks ago. Such a rise has been put down to increasing optimism that the global economy is to begin recovering this year. Yesterday's drop in costs came following data from the American Petroleum Institute which reported increases in US stockpiles, highlighting that demand from the country remains weaker than had been expected.