Oil Slips Below $47 as Investors Eye OPEC Meeting.

(SANEPR.com) March 16, 2009 -- Seattle, Washington (SANEPR) March, 15, 2009. Oil prices slipped below $47 a barrel as investors jockeyed over whether OPEC will announce a production cut at its meeting on Sunday, and how big the cut might be.
Benchmark crude for April delivery fell 29 cents to $46.74 a barrel by midday in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices soared $4.70 on Thursday to settle at $47.03.

Prices have lurched between $42 and $47 this week as leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sent mixed signals about a possible output reduction. Nigerian and Qatari officials have suggested they oppose another production cut on top of the 4.2 million barrels a day of reductions announced by OPEC since September, while Venezuela supports further cuts.
"It seems to be hard for OPEC to reach consensus this time," said Douglas Morgan, CEO at Hoffman Meyer Associates. "I expect a small cut, less than the market expects."

Morgan continued by saying “Most analysts are expecting a cut of between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day and because of this prices have rallied from below $35 a barrel last month, but haven't been able to breach $50 as the worst global recession in decades weighs on crude demand.”

He finished his speech by declaring "Unless there's a massive OPEC cut, it's well-capped at $50 and we have seen it in black and white with China's terrible export numbers. That's a lot of demand destruction."

Oil prices slipped below $47 a barrel as investors jockeyed over whether OPEC will announce a production cut at its meeting on Sunday, and how big the cut might be.
Benchmark crude for April delivery fell 29 cents to $46.74 a barrel by midday in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices soared $4.70 on Thursday to settle at $47.03.

Prices have lurched between $42 and $47 this week as leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sent mixed signals about a possible output reduction. Nigerian and Qatari officials have suggested they oppose another production cut on top of the 4.2 million barrels a day of reductions announced by OPEC since September, while Venezuela supports further cuts.
"It seems to be hard for OPEC to reach consensus this time," said Douglas Morgan, CEO at Hoffman Meyer Associates. "I expect a small cut, less than the market expects."

Morgan continued by saying “Most analysts are expecting a cut of between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day and because of this, prices have rallied from below $35 a barrel last month, but haven't been able to breach $50 as the worst global recession in decades weighs on crude demand.”

He finished his speech by declaring "Unless there's a massive OPEC cut, it's well-capped at $50 and we have seen it in black and white with China's terrible export numbers. That's a lot of demand destruction."

Hoffman Meyer Associates is Seattle's leading merger and acquisition, business brokerage firm. As a mergers & acquisition firm, our principals have completed scores of transactions of privately and publicly held companies during the past 25 years.

Over the years, our firm has developed strong relationships with companies and individuals that are ancillary to the mergers & acquisition process including banks, mezzanine lenders, asset lenders, transaction attorneys, certified public accountants, and financial planners. We are also affiliate members of leading merger & acquisition, business valuation, accounting and brokerage associations.