What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

• IPE Brent crude futures drifted lower in London as the first tropical storm of the new hurricane season, Alberto, looked unlikely to hit any US Gulf Coast oil or gas facilities. The sell-off was further exacerbated by a small cut in the latest oil demand growth forecast by the influential International Energy Agency.

• The front-month July Brent contract was trading at $68.21/bbl, down 72 cents, at 0921 GMT, having traded as low as $68.11/bbl earlier in the day. Crude futures in London have shed over $2/bbl since the start of the week. "The market is more techincally driven as opposed to fundamentally driven," one broker said, anticipating a further sell off later in the day.

•In the latest IEA report, global demand growth for 2006 was trimmed to 1.24 million b/d, down from earlier forecasts of 1.25 million b/d. The agency also cut non-OPEC its oil supply forecast by 55,000 b/d, with the 'call on OPEC' unchanged for the year.

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