Oil’s rally will stall at $55 a barrel as US shale drillers get back to work and a “wall of supply” from investments made over the past decade hits the market, says Goldman Sachs Group.

US stocks have closed barely higher as big gains for utilities balanced out losses for retailers like Lowe's, Target and Staples.

Oil traded near $46 a barrel in New York as the market weighs a force majeure declared by Exxon Mobil on crude shipments out of Nigeria against excess US oil and product inventories.

Oil retreated from the highest level in almost five months amid rising US crude stockpiles and speculation producers will be unable to agree on an output freeze.

Oil rose to a four-month high in London ahead of a meeting in Doha this month where producers will discuss freezing output.

Oil was poised for the first weekly decline since mid-February as US crude stockpiles expanded again, keeping supplies at the highest level in more than eight decades.

Oil prices steadied yesterday after US crude oil stocks rose, balancing bullish data showing the market was beginning to tighten, with falling supply and higher demand.

Oil traded near the lowest level in more than six years yesterday as an unexpected rise in US crude stockpiles exacerbated a global glut.

Brent crude rose as violence flared in Opec’s two biggest members Iraq and Saudi Arabia, raising tensions ahead of the producer group’s meeting on June 5 in Vienna.

Oil futures rallied yesterday erasing losses on strong jobs data and US government forecasts for lower domestic crude production growth and higher global demand for oil.

China may boast the world’s largest potential reserves of shale gas but is likely to lose to Australia in the race to be second behind the US in bringing significant production on line.

RECESSION is set to cause the sharpest fall in world greenhouse gas emissions in 40 years, according to an estimate yesterday.

The cost of a barrel of Brent crude oil slipped back below 100 US dollars in volatile trading today. as slowing demand offset news of a cut in excess production.

A cooling in oil prices helped to boost flagging stock markets today, with London’s FTSE 100 Index ahead more than 1%.

US stocks moved sharply higher on Wall Street today on strong earnings from Time Warner and declining oil prices.

SORRY to be a party pooper but the price of petrol falling by 9 cent per litre this week does not mean the end of the oil crisis.

A drop in crude oil futures pushed stocks modestly higher in the United States today, helped by government predictions of lower gasoline prices.

OIL prices vaulted over $52 a barrel yesterday, breaking a two-week slump from record highs as refinery problems continued in the United States, the world’s largest energy consumer, continued to worry investors and reignited supply worries.

OPEC ministers today moved toward consensus on formally boosting the group’s oil output. But the move did little to ease concerns that the world’s hunger for crude may soon outpace the organisation’s capacity to feed it.

Iran, accused by the US of using a nuclear energy program as a front to produce weapons, has repeatedly said its program is for peaceful purposes only, and that it needs nuclear power to generate enough electricity to remain self-sufficient.

THE victory of US President George W Bush will do nothing to defuse concerns about oil prices experts have warned.