Updated at: 1219 PST, Monday, November 15, 2010
 SINGAPORE: Oil rises past 85 dollars in Asian trade Oil crossed 85 dollars in Asian trade on Monday as traders snapped up crude following a plunge in prices on Friday, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, gained 53 cents to 85.41 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for December delivery advanced 34 cents to 86.68 dollars on its last trading day.
Investors were buying up crude after it slid more than three percent on Friday, said Serene Lim, oil and gas analyst for ANZ bank in Singapore.
"I think investors are just taking the opportunity of the sell-down last week to buy... The fall was actually a good opportunity to buy into the market," she said.
Lim added that crude prices of 90 dollars were possible by the year-end.
"In general it seems like fundamentals are improving and 90 dollars is possible" by the end of the year, she said.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday raised its 2010 global oil demand growth forecast to an average of 87.3 million barrels per day, partly due to a stronger-than-expected rebound in the third quarter.
Data from the US Department of Energy released Wednesday also showed crude stockpiles in the world's biggest oil consumer easing 3.3 million barrels in the week ending November 5, compared with forecasts of a 1.4 million-barrel rise. |
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