Global crude futures regained ground Friday, recovering from the massive
selloff in late Thursday trading after both WTI and Brent contracts had hit
all-time high trades earlier in the day, market sources said.

At 10:52 GMT, the December ICE Brent futures contract traded at
$90.64/barrel, up 92 cents/b from the overnight close, while the December
NYMEX WTI contract was at $94.18/b, up 69 cents/b.

"I think we will see some more profit-taking today--support levels could
be tested," said a London-based broker. "On WTI, the support level is around
$93.60/b, and the next is about a dollar under that."

Thursday's volatile afternoon trading saw widespread profit-taking as
weaker equity markets discouraged the taking of additional long positions and
the US dollar rebounded slightly.

The rapid reversal to the downside on Thursday appeared to be related to
a more than 200-point drop in the US equity markets. Euphoria from the US
Federal Reserve's 25-basis point interest rate cut rapidly dissipated as
markets realized the central bank had signaled that a further rate cut at its
December meeting was now unlikely.

"The market just seems very overbought and there are not many buyers out
there... I reckon people will be wary to go long into the weekend so we might
see another selling spree today, especially with the equity markets getting
hammered on Thursday," the London-based broker added.

However, in other news, some price support emerged from comments by
Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez that an OPEC output rise is
unnecessary.

"We [OPEC] see there is ample supply in the markets," Ramirez said. "And
I'm sure you remember last year OPEC increased output. But you need to
consider the increased geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. For me, I
think that's main reason."

Looking at Middle Eastern crude swaps, the new January DME Oman futures
contract recovered as well, up 57 cents to $85.07/b, while January ICE Dubai
had not changed hands yet.

Product futures moved higher as well after Thursday's losses, with
November ICE gasoil gaining $8 to $796/mt, while in the US, December NYMEX
heating oil and RBOB contracts increased 3.13 cents and 2.43 cents to
$2.5436/gallon and $2.3675/gallon, respectively.

--Verena Peternell, verena_peternell@platts.com