Oil prices continue to rise on hurricane jitters - Yahoo! News

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Oil prices have jumped above the 70 dollar level in Asian trade as experts forecast a potentially packed Atlantic hurricane season, dealers said.
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At 10:30 am (0230 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, was up 41 cents to 70.37 dollars a barrel from its close of 69.96 dollars in the United States Monday.
The June contract expired in New York trade Monday, closing at 69.23 dollars.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was at 69.70 dollars, up 35 cents.
Crude prices halted their decline Monday after US experts predicted as many as 10 Atlantic hurricanes in upcoming months, four of which could hit the United States.
Analysts fear that a hurricane this year could push oil prices above 90 dollars a barrel if it hits oil installations in the US Gulf of Mexico as happened last August when the Katrina and Rita storms devastated US oil and refinery output.
"When the hurricane season starts, the US buyers will start to buy more and this could send prices above 90 dollars," said Tetsu Emori, a Tokyo-based commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures.
"The outlook calls for a very active 2006 season," the US
National Weather Service' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> National Weather Service said in a report released Monday.
At the same time, it said that the six-month Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1, is unlikely to reach the records set last year when there were 28 tropical storms, 15 of which strengthened into hurricanes.
Seven of the hurricanes were considered "major," and four of those slammed into the US coast.
However, Robert Latham, who heads the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said a hurricane more devastating than Katrina, which killed over 1,500 people in New Orleans and along the US Gulf Coast, could not be ruled out.
"As bad as Katrina was, it could be worse," he said.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf of Mexico in August last year sending crude prices to the then record high of 70.85 dollars.
Daruisz Kowalczyk, a Hong Kong-based investment strategist with CFC Seymour said that although the hurricane season this year is forecast to be milder, crude prices could still take a beating.
"It is still above the average (hurricane season)," Kowalczyk said.
"Those hurricanes are a risk to the supply side and investors will put a premium into the price of oil for the risk to supply stability," he said