Oil Sneaks Past $93

Ouch...

A Mexican oil company has just joined the growing list of factors pushing oil prices to dizzying heights. The state-run Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, is shutting as much as 600,000 barrels, or about 19% of its daily crude output because of a storm, and the news has now pushed oil past the $93 mark. [Oil Sneaks Past $93 - Forbes.com]

Good news for oil palm plantation companies though. Palm oil demand will outpace supply as rising oil prices could spark interest in biofuels, a cheaper alternative to crude oil. On Monday, the stocks of plantation companies in Malaysia such as KLK, IOI Corp and Asiatic rose in accord to the record high crude palm oil prices. While there will be profit-taking in the next few days, there should continue to be some uptrend later today (perhaps the week) when the KLCI opens.