Global crude futures retreated from Monday's highs in early European
trading Tuesday, primarily on profit-taking but also amid concern that the
market is currently overbought, market sources said.

At 10:41 GMT, the December ICE Brent futures contract was at
$89.95/barrel, down $1.07/b, while the December NYMEX WTI futures contract was
at $92.44/b, sliding $1.09/b from the previous close.

Both contracts settled at record highs on Monday, with WTI reaching
$93.53/b and Brent $90.32/b.

In Middle East markets the December DME Oman contract was at $82.50/b,
down $1.75/b.

"This move is just profit taking--there are no new headlines," said a
London-based broker. "People are unwinding positions as they think the market
is overbought."

"Lately, the market in Asia has been moving the market. It was down
nearly a dollar in early trading," said a London-based analyst. "Whatever the
market did in the morning it carries on throughout the day. Asia has set the
trend recently."

"People think that there will be some consolidation at about a dollar
lower and then the market will steady itself for fresh rallies. We have the US
inventory data as well an announcement on US interest rates later in the week,
so it will be interesting to see how the market reacts," he added.

OPEC TO DO WHAT IT CAN

In other news, OPEC president Mohammed Bin Dhaen al-Hamli said Tuesday
oil markets were increasingly being driven by forces beyond the oil producer
group's control but stressed that OPEC would do what it could to ensure that
markets remained adequately supplied with crude.

"Increasingly, oil markets are being driven by forces beyond OPEC's
control," Hamli told the Oil and Money conference in London, citing
"geopolitical events and the growing influence of financial investors."

"However, we will do what we can... to ensure the market is adequately
supplied with crude oil."

He did not indicate whether OPEC might act again this year to increase
supplies despite recent record-high oil prices of over $90/barrel.

There will be a summit of OPEC member heads of state and government in
the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 17-18 and OPEC oil ministers are likely
to hold informal talks before then.

In NYMEX products markets, the November gasoline contract was at
$2.3019/gallon, down 255 points from Monday's close, and heating oil was at
$2.4480/gal, down 166 points.

On ICE, the November gasoil contract was at 4768.75/mt, down $1.50/mt.
Both heating oil and gasoil contracts hit record-high settlements Monday.

--Paul Hailey, paul_hailey@platts.com
--Margaret McQuaile, margaret_mcquaile@platts.com