November crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit an
all-time high of $85.30/barrel for a gain of $1.61/barrel on the session early
Monday, but temporarily lost upward momentum as prices retested levels just
shy of $85/barrel.

Technical considerations, increased geopolitical tensions between Turkey
and Iraq and increasing supply/demand tightness at the onset of the fourth
quarter were behind the push higher at the start of the week.

A tightening in the front of the crude futures curve reflected
supply/demand concerns, with the November/December spread trading out to a
high of plus $1.08/barrel after settling Friday at plus 85 cents.

OPEC, in its monthly oil market report published earlier Monday, raised
the 'call' on its own crude for Q4 2007 by 100,000 b/d while cutting the 2007
non-OPEC supply estimate by 30,000 b/d and raising 2007 and 2008 world oil
demand estimates by 20,000 b/d.

Last week the International Energy Agency projected tight stocks for the
fourth quarter, also helping to put a floor under prices.

The rally in the petroleum sector was part of a broad-based move in
commodities as ongoing weakness in the US dollar continued to benefit net
importers.

--Linda Rafield, linda_rafield@platts.com