•Global crude futures Monday fell slightly, but still consolidated most of the strong gains seen late Friday on the back of concerns over Saudi Arabian oil supplies. Although prices retreated slightly on Monday due to profit-taking, according to brokers, May NYMEX RBOB gasoline rallied above the equivalent of $100/barrel, reaching $2.3830/gallon in intra-day trading, the highest value seen since August 2006.

•At 1100 London time (1000 GMT) the June ICE Brent futures contract was down 29 cents at $68.12/b, still holding above the strong $68/b support level. The June WTI futures contracts on NYMEX and ICE were down 31 cents at $66.15/b, narrowing the June Brent/WTI premium to below $2/b. "It is no surprise for me that the crude futures market is slightly off today as it seems that the upward move on Friday was a little exaggerated," a London-based broker said.

•On Friday prices rose after news that Saudi Arabian authorities had arrested more than 170 people suspected terrorists, with their potential targets said to have included the country's oil facilities.

Updated: April 30, 2007