London (Platts)--8Jun2007

Global crude futures were all weaker Friday, influenced in part by a fall
in US equity markets and as Omani oil export ports reopened after tropical
cyclone Gonu passed, sources said.

     On Thursday, July NYMEX WTI passed through the previous resistance level
of $66.50/b on early gains in US gasoline futures, which triggered buy
activity. 

     At 1018GMT, ICE Brent futures were down but trading at parity. A reported
drop in North Sea loading propped up the July contract, while market
participants sold August Brent. The July ICE Brent futures contract was at
$70.37/b, down 83 cents/b from Thursday's close, while the August contract
changed hands at $70.37/b, down 89 cents/b. The July NYMEX WTI contract was
down 74 cents/b at $66.19/b.

     North Sea Brent Blend crude loadings are set to fall to 179,871 b/d in
July, down 37,796 b/d from June's expected level of 217,667 b/d, market
sources said Friday.

     "We are hearing that there has been falls across bond, equities and
foreign exchange markets and this can spread across into commodities, Brent in
particular", said a London-based analyst. "However, things are still
fundamentally bullish and it shouldn't affect oil as much."

     On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.8% and the Dow Jones index fell nearly
200 points, causing jitters in commodities markets.

     The Omani ports of Mina Al Fahal, Salalah and Sultan Qaboos were
operational again Friday morning after tropical cyclone Gonu passed, according
to shipping sources.

     This week has been marked by concern over several potentially bullish
factors which affected market sentiment but not had a real impact.

     "In the end, there has been so far no report of Gonu linked damages to
oil installations, Turkey did not invade Iraq and the OPEC statement is a
repeat of what they have been saying for more than a year", said oil analysts
Petromatrix in a report. "But the market is in a phase of reacting to bullish
items and discounting their non-confirmation."

     The August DME Oman contract was trading at $66.08/b, down 73 cents,
while August ICE Dubai futures were pegged at $66.54/b, down 85 cents.

     Among product futures, June ICE gasoil lost $7.00 to $610.50/mt. In the
US, July NYMEX heating oil and RBOB futures weakened by 1.64 cents and
2.37 cents to $1.9600/gallon and $2.1690/gallon, respectively.

--Paul Hailey, paul_hailey@platts.com