14 June 2005, 13:55  Oil trades near seven-week high on concern about output of winter fuels

Crude oil traded near a seven-week high on concern refiners will be strained to meet demand for fuels from crude supplied by OPEC. ``Build, build, build more refineries,'' Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, said today in Vienna, where the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets tomorrow to decide on production. No refineries have been built in the U.S. in almost three decades and some plants are unable to process the supplies of low-quality crude that OPEC can increase. ``The market is so tight that it jumps on any worries about winter supplies,'' said Anette Einarsen, an oil analyst at Nordea Bank AB in Oslo. ``Saudi Arabia can't supply the oil that refiners want and OPEC's production is already above quotas.'' Crude oil for July delivery fell 2 cents to $55.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:13 a.m. London time after surging more than $2 yesterday, or 3.9 percent, reaching a peak of $55.80, the highest price since April 25. Prices, up 28 percent from a year ago, climbed to a record $58.28 on April 4. Brent crude for July settlement declined 13 cents to $54.65 on London's International Petroleum Exchange.

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