•Crude futures fell in early European trading Friday, weighed down by bearish technicals and demand, and strength in the US dollar, sources said. "The demand picture and bearish technicals are behind the move," a London-based broker said.

•The US Dollar Index on ICE hit a five-month high against the euro at $1.5139 in early European trading, following the ECB's interest rate announcement on Thursday, when it left rates unchanged at 4.25%.

•The fall in crude prices comes despite reports that the 1 mil b/d Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude pipeline is still burning after an explosion early Wednesday. "The BTC pipeline explosion would be seized on in an uptrend, but this is not the case now. We are firmly in a downtrend and I will not be surprised if we go below $100/b," a broker said.

•However, he added that the impact of the pipeline explosion was seen in the narrowing of the Sept/Oct spread on Brent, which since the explosion has narrowed 84 cents to minus 87 cents/b.

Updated: August 8, 2008