Oil prices held steady Wednesday after falling back from an overnight record near US$110 a barrel, supported by the further weakening of the U.S. dollar. AP reported. In Tokyo currency trading Wednesday, the greenback fell against the yen in Asia despite the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to pump US$200 billion (¤130 billion) into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. The energy watchdog agency for the world's most industrialized nations slightly cut its projection for world oil demand, which it now sees at 87.5 million barrels a day for this year, up 2 percent from 2007. Traders were also eyeing the release of data later Wednesday that is expected to show U.S. petroleum stockpiles grew last week, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts. The report is expected to show that U.S. crude oil stockpiles grew 1.6 million barrels, gasoline stockpiles grew 300,000 barrels, and stocks of distillates, which include diesel fuel and heating oil, fell 2 million barrels. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures lost 0.47 cent to US$2.991 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices lost 1.01 cents to US$2.716 a gallon. Natural gas futures lost 2.3 cents to US$9.977 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude futures fell 24 cents to US$105.01 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
