IPE Brent rebounds as hurricane-related disruptions persist

IPE Brent rebounds as hurricane-related disruptions persist

London (Platts)--15Jul2005

Brent crude futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange rebounded
from earlier losses with strong buying in Asia sparking a small rally as
concerns mounted about possible outages in the US Gulf due to the hurricane
season, traders said. "The rally continued when the London markets began," one
IPE broker said. 

By 1106GMT, the front-month September futures contract was trading up 48cts to
$57.44/bbl, but had been down as low as $56.50/bbl earlier in the day. With
many traders said to be on the short side after the big drop in prices over
the past two days, a lot of short covering was expected ahead of of the
weekend. "It is going to be a volatile session this afternoon," one IPE broker
said.

On the gasoil, prices also recovered, but with physical offtake on the slow
side, as buyers remained on the sidelines and brokers said that outright IPE
values would have to crash to bring buying interest back into the frame. "It
looks like the market is going to have to live with high prices, but it will
remain in contango," one broker said. 

At 1111GMT, the front-month August IPE gasoil contract was trading $10.25
higher at $532.50/mt having been as low as $521/mt earlier in the day. The
August/September spread was marked at -$8/mt contango.

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