Vienna, July 22 (DPA) The price of oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose for the sixth straight day and passed the $65-mark Tuesday, the Vienna-based group said Wednesday.
The cartel’s basket price reached $65.04 per barrel (159 litres) Tuesday, gaining $0.40 from the previous day.
Traders and analysts have attributed the upward trend to positive signals from the US housing market, along with better-than-expected quarterly results by US companies such as Apple and Caterpillar.
Additional momentum came from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said Tuesday that there were “notable improvements” in economic indicators, according to the Vienna-based analysts JBC Energy.
Since dipping below $60 at the start of last week, OPEC’s oil price has gained more than $5.
The cartel produces more than a third of the world’s crude oil.
