What's Moving the Oil Markets?

• Global crude futures mainly drifted lower Wednesday, amid thin volumes, ahead of the US stock data. This comes after an all-time high settle for Sep NYMEX WTI which was buoyed by strong product futures contract expiries as well as expected draws in US crude stocks to be released at 14:30 GMT by the EIA and API.

•At 09:55 GMT September ICE Brent changed hands at $76.51/barrel, down 54 cents. September WTI on both ICE and NYMEX were off by 53 cents at $77.69/b. On Tuesday September NYMEX WTI traded within 12 cents of an all-time high, at $78.28/b, and settled at $78.21/b, the highest ever closing price and over $1 more than any close since July 14, 2006.

•Market players expect prices to drift until the US stock data where analysts have projected a 1.7 million barrel draw in crude stocks. An increase of 0.4 percentage points to 92.1% in refinery utilization will be the factor behind another decline in US crude stocks. Technically, analysts said most of the energy complex broke through many resistance levels "but the market is running into its next set of range resistances," a PVM report said.

Updated: Aug 1, 2007