Crude futures weaken, move away from influence of gasoline

London (Platts)--27Apr2007

Global crude futures were a touch weaker Friday in intraday trading, still
underpinned by the current strength of gasoline but to a lesser degree than
earlier in the week, market sources said.

At 1117 London time (1017 GMT), the front-month June ICE Brent futures
contract was down 30 cents at $67.35/barrel. June NYMEX WTI inched down by 1
cent to $65.05/b.

"I expect today will be fairly quiet as the market has been up and down
all week. People will want to take a breather," said a London-based trader.
"The momentum in gasoline will still be the stronger source in the market
though."

On Thursday, easing political tension surrounding Iran's nuclear program
and last weekend's Nigerian elections prompted prices to fall slightly.

"Despite a new series of refinery problems in the US taking prompt
gasoline prices to new recent highs, crude oil could not break the
resistance," said oil analysts Petromatrix. "It is now the 14th day out of the
last 19 that Brent crude oil has traded without being able to settle above
69.00 $/bbl. The crude resistance is getting re-enforced and since crude oil
is no more the solver of the gasoline stock draws it will require new crude
related inputs to break higher."

The partial restart of Valero's McKee refinery April 16 held the
promise of eroding an inventory overhang that caused the front of the curve
to weaken, but additional refinery problems along the Gulf Coast and the
Midwest may actually cause additional stock building and leaving traders
unsure as to the direction of the curve.

Product futures were mixed. The May ICE gasoil futures contract was up
$2.50 to $590.50/mt. In the US, May NYMEX RBOB was up 0.22 cents at
$2.2925/gallon, while May NYMEX heating oil lost 0.47 cents to $1.8844/gallon.

--Paul Hailey, paul_hailey@platts.com