IPE Brent inches up as market looks to Wednesday's US stock data

IPE Brent inches up as market looks to Wednesday's US stock data

London (Platts)--28Mar2006

IPE Brent futures in London inched higher Tuesday on bad weather slowing
shipping operations at Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal, ongoing Nigerian tension and
ahead of US crude stock data out Wednesday.
At 1001 GMT, the front-month May IPE Brent crude futures contract traded
at $63.73/barrel, up 12 cents from Monday's settle. The May contract changed
hands within a 32-cent range, with a low of $63.44/barrel.
"There is very little happening today, pure and simple. OK, there is
still the situation in Nigeria to remain wary of and this morning there was
the news about the bad weather in Iraq halting exports, but that's about it,"
a London-based broker said.
Bad weather halted shipping operations at Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal late
Monday with one vessel now loading crude and three waiting at anchorage, a
shipping agent said Tuesday.
Strong winds and heavy rains in the northern Persian Gulf have prevented
tankers from berthing at the terminal, the agent said. "Right now, there is
only one vessel loading crude at a rate of 60,000 barrels/hour," the agent
said. The loading rate is unchanged from Monday.
The market has also kept an eye on the situation in Nigeria. There is
still some support from Nigeria as Shell said it had no plans to resume
shut-in production until it could guarantee the Niger Delta area safe.
This negated the bearish news that three hostages were released over the
weekend by the militant captors. They were among nine men seized from a barge
operated by US services company Willbros in the Niger Delta on February 18.
Traders are also talking about Wednesday's US stock data, due out at 1530
GMT, as something to have an impact on the markets. "People are already
looking towards tomorrow's US stock data which looks like, from early reports,
that we're going to see more builds in crude stocks and drops in distillates
and gasoline," a London-based broker said.
Early estimates have shown a build in crude stocks of 2-4 million
barrels, gasoline stocks to dip by 1.5-2.5 million barrels and distillate
stocks to fall by 1-2 million barrels.

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