Crude Oil Sets New 2009 High

Crude oil futures set a fresh high for the year Wednesday, with new front month December closing at USD 81.37/barrel, after earlier hitting USD 82/barrel.

A weak dollar, spec money, and ideas that an economic recover is underway spurring demand propelled the market to it's highest levels in more than 12 months.

The move came despite the American Petroleum Institute yesterday saying that US stocks rose 3.85 million barrels last week. Today the Energy Information Administration said inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels, slightly less than the 1.5 million the trade was expecting.

The EIA also said that US gasoline inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 16, considerably more than the 800,000 the market had predicted.

At least for now it seems that the market is willing to push prices higher without much foundation that global demand really has increased. Dangerous territory given last year's dramatic fall from grace after prices declined from USD 147/barrel to USD 34/barrel in little over six months.