Oil Ceased Its Rising In Price

Oil prices eased on Tuesday, ending a five-day of rising, amid expectations of an increase in the US stockpiles.

Light sweet crude futures slipped 18 cents to $47.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In London, Brent crude softened 14 cents to $45.39 on the IPE.

The slight losses came ahead of the US government's weekly inventory report, to be released early Wednesday, which dealers expected would show oil supplies rose 1 million barrels last week due to higher imports.

Stockpiles in the world's largest energy consumer are already about 8 per cent higher than they were last year, according to the last report from the US Energy Information Administration.

US oil prices have held within a US$45-US$50 range since early January, but had been on the uptick for more than a week on projections of a continued tight market in 2005 and signals of another output cut from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialised nations on energy policy, issued an outlook last week expecting stronger demand growth and lower non-Opec supply this year.