High oil stocks could see fall in price

OIL stocks have hit a six-year high easing pressure on demand that could result in the price per barrel falling back to $40 per barrel from the current level of just under $50pb.

Strong inflows of funds to the US have seen the dollar gain 8% from the start of the year against the euro, going from $1.3660 to $1.2550.

That should fall to $1.2490 in the short term, said Dr Dan McLaughlin, chief economist Bank of Ireland. If the trend continues a more substantial shakeout of the market resulting in oil prices falling further and the dollar getting quite strong was an outside possibility, he said.