Oil Prices May Touch $10 Per Barrel

Brimming petroleum storage tanks are now so close to capacity in the West that they could trigger a slump on world oil markets to prices not seen in over a decade, traders and analysts said on Wednesday. If cargoes of crude cannot be squeezed into storage, sellers could eventually be forced to dump oil at bargain basement prices -- possibly at under $10 a barrel for the first time since 1986, they said. Crude oil in single digits is "certainly a possibility" if only for a short period, said Adam Seymour, analyst at Morgan Stanley and Co International in London. Sub-ten Brent is a distinct possibility, added a senior trader at a US investment bank. World benchmark Brent blend crude was valued at just $14.29 a barrel on Wednesday, a 46-month low. Prices as well as stocks are close to levels seen in the winter of 1994. During that period, front-month Brent crude oil futures sunk to just below $13 .