Crude futures consolidate gains above $62/barrel

London (Platts)--2Mar2007

Crude futures stabilized above $62/barrel on Friday but market players
said they expect a small downward correction ahead of the weekend, led by
NYMEX gasoline futures.

At 1126 GMT the April ICE Brent futures contract changed hands at
$62.63/barrel, up 52 cents. The April NYMEX WTI futures contract was also up
at $62.33/barrel up 33 cents whilst the ICE WTI contract traded one cent lower
at $62.32/barrel.

"Gasoline and the equity markets have shaped most of the movements this
week. I think we may have overcooked it a little so there may be a 50 cent
retracement today, but this may provide an opportunity for more people to buy
the dip," a London-based broker said.

The retracement may occur if the Dow Jones market opens lower at 1430
GMT, a broker said.

"If the Dow Jones opens significantly lower then crude prices will
probably fall but I think people have used the equity markets as too much of
an excuse for the change in energy prices this week," a broker said.

NYMEX RBOB unleaded futures have risen almost 14 cents/gallon in the past
week, pushed upwards by gasoline stocks falling by 1.9 million barrels to
220.2 million barrels, which was 5.6 million barrels below year-ago levels,
according to the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

"They are a bit short of gasoline in the US and I wouldn't be surprised
if by the end of next week we hit $2/gallon. If it dips below $1.90/gallon
today then I'm sure we'll see some more people come in and buy the dip," a
broker said.

Further bullish sentiment came in the form of trade talk that Valero's
Port Arthur Texas was the latest plant to suffer an outage. In particular,
sources said that it's coker was the unit that was out.

If crude prices do rise then market players have cited the $64/barrel
level as the next main resistance level on both April NYMEX WTI and ICE Brent
futures.

Amongst the products, the April NYMEX Rbobo futures took a breather from
it's recent gains, trading at $1.9153/gallon, up 0.52 cents. April heating oil
on NYMEX was up 0.90 cents at $1.7853/gallon and on the other side of the
Atlantic, March ICE gasoil futures traded at $547.75/mt up $2.50/mt.

--Jean-Luc Amos, jean-luc_amos@platts.com