Saudi King's death won't likely change the course of oil prices

Crude oil prices are paring early gains following the death of Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, king of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah's death isn't likely to slow the flow of oil from world's biggest oil exporters and a key leader in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), whose members have maintained or even boosted production despite a massive slide in crude oil prices.

Still, commodities speculators often trade on upheaval, uncertainty and potentially politically charged events. That helped pushed benchmark Brent and West Texas crude oil up 3% on overseas exchanges. But West Texas crude lost 92 cents down(2%) to $45.39 a barrel and Brent crude up just 22 cents (0.5%) to $48.764 a barrel in late trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Ali Al-Naimi is expected to remain as Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister, a post he's held since 1995. He said late last year that Saudi Arabia would maintain its 9.5 million barrel daily production even as global oil prices collapsed.

Given Al-Naimi's stance, Friday's rise in crude oil prices is likely temporary, experts say. The world remains glutted by supplies and slowing economic growth in Europe and Asia.

West Texas crude is off 56% since mid-June. Gas prices are down to a national average of $2.04 a gallon, 38% below the $3.29 a gallon in January 2014.

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