By Ahmad Faraj
KUWAIT, June 6 (KUNA) -- This past week can only be viewed as extraordinary for Kuwait's crude oil, which was able to make up for some of its losses since July 2008, when its exceeded USD 135 per barrel (pb), only to begin its downward tumble.
The week saw positive numbers for Kuwaiti crude, coming to the highest in eight months, and closing on Friday -- the last day of the week in global markets -- at USD 68.62 pb.
Moreover, the barrel logged a 9.1 percent increase this week, among the highest weekly increases in its history, especially as it came during these difficult economic circumstances.
The Kuwaiti crude average for May was at USD 55, its highest monthly average so far this year. This gives the budget of the current fiscal year, 2009-2010, a new dose of optimism as to its ability to continue to achieve surplus.
The rise in the price of Kuwaiti oil followed the trend in the global markets, where OPEC's 12-crude basket gained 5.1 percent this week.
Oil delivery contracts in international markets exceeded USD 70 pb, the highest so far in 2009, and coincided with profits of greater than five percent this week in prices in the global oil markets.
However, despite the fact that oil prices around the world have increased more than 100 percent since December 2008, they still remain well below the USD 147 level reached in mid-July of last year.
The improvement in Kuwaiti oil prices came as OPEC continued to implement its reduced oil production ceiling announced in September 2008, in an attempt to make up for the sharp drop in global demand on oil.
The improved prices also came parallel to signs of optimism over the recovery of the global economy and indications of improved performance by some financial institutions that had faced some difficulties, as well as stock markets.
Another factor is that the US dollar -- which was appreciating for nine months up to early May and was thus pushing oil prices down -- was losing some of its value. (end) amf.ema KUNA 061128 Jun 09NNNN