•Crude futures moved higher in European trading on Friday, following a slight downturn in prices during Thursday's volatile session, which was disrupted by a power failure at the IntercontinentalExchange that shut down trading activity for around three and half hours.

•"It's not really a technical bounce--ICE was offline yesterday which gave NYMEX a chance with no one challenging it. There was a huge move on NYMEX but it ended pretty much unchanged, which is bullish going into the weekend," a London-based broker said.

•With heating oil futures bouncing back up and sentiment generally remaining bullish despite the lack of big headlines, a rally ahead of the weekend appears likely, according to analysts. "Considering how sensitive the markets have been to the upside this week, (even on the flimsiest bits of news), we suspect that we will finish today's session on a higher note as we head into the weekend," energy analyst Ed Meir of MF Global said in a report Friday.

Updated: May 16, 2008