•Global crude futures recovered on Friday after Thursday's massive selling spree across the petroleum sector, support coming in particular from US product futures following a fire that forced Chevron to shut one of two crude units at its 325,000 b/d Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery. "Price support this morning is on the back of hurricane Dean and Chevron's latest refining problems in the US," a London broker said. Asked if he believed that the market would hold onto its gains through the day, the broker said he thought "we will end up rallying about $1.50/b on the front today."

•Recent trading sessions have been dominated mainly by financial markets, and Thursday's plunge was triggered by strong falls in global equities that resulted in funds liquidating positions in oil futures, market sources said. Analysts said that, leaving fundamentally bullish factors aside, it was doubtful if the market would see some short-covering ahead of the weekend.

Updated: August 17, 2007