London (Platts)--11Jun2007
Global crude futures were stronger Monday as market players took stock after a large sell-off on Friday, brokers said. At 1033 GMT the July ICE Brent futures contract changed hands at $68.74/barrel, up 14 cents. The July WTI futures contracts on NYMEX and ICE were 33 cents higher at $65.09/b. On Friday, global crude futures lost over $2/b in value as fears receded over cyclone Gonu affecting oil infrastructure, production and shipping in the oil rich region of the Middle East. Technical selling also pushed prices through important resistance levels and large drops in equity markets and metal prices added to the bearish picture. "I think a lot of people are contemplating what happened on Friday and how this current week may go," a London-based broker said. "The small moves this morning seem pretty logical especially with no news to affect prices," they added. Looking ahead, geopolitics and other fundamental factors will play their part market analysts have said. "While the risk of attacks on oil installations in Nigeria has subsided until the end of the month with the MEND truce we will still keep an eye on Nigeria for any further talks of Labor strike following the VAT increase from 5% to 10% and the increase in local Gasoline prices," a Petromatrix report said. The new Middle Eastern crude futures were also higher on Monday. The August DME Oman futures contract traded at $64.85/b up 27 cents whilst the ICE Dubai crude contract was pegged at $64.34/b, up 16 cents. On Friday, volumes traded on the DME Oman futures were higher than those on the ICE Dubai contract. 2,516 lots went through on Oman futures whilst 1,860 traded for Dubai. Among the product futures June ICE gasoil caught up with Friday's sell off across the energy complex, trading down by $7.75/mt at $598.00/mt. The July NYMEX heating oil contract regained some ground, up by 102 points at $1.9095/gallon with July NYMEX RBOB futures trading at $2.14470/gal up 199 points. --Jean-Luc Amos, jean-luc_amos@platts.com
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