New York (Platts)--23Sep2008

NYMEX's front-month crude futures contract on the CME's Globex system was
$1.89/barrel lower at $107.48/b on Tuesday, a minor pullback after Monday's
record-setting run-up in prices.
The October contract expiration on Monday combined with a free fall in
the US dollar--which in turn stemmed from emerging skepticism over a proposed
$700 billion bailout of US non-performing mortgage-backed securities--to send
crude prices roaring up $25.45/b to an intra-day high of $130/b.

While the expiring October contract settled over $16/b higher, the
now-active front-month November contract gained $6/b. Those short the front
month contract were forced to cover that month rather than roll into November,
given the blow-out in the October/November spread to a record of plus
$11.55/b.

A modest recovery in the US dollar ahead of testimony by US Secretary of
the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke on
Capital Hill put downward pressure across the commodity complex.

"Despite an overnight price pullback of around 2%, market momentum has
swung back to the upside this week amid a paradigm shift that has placed the
value and the direction of the US dollar back in the forefront of trader
attention," energy consultant Jim Ritterbusch said in a report.

Product markets also turned lower in overnight trading, led by an 8 cent
drop in RBOB futures, despite ongoing lost refining capacity along the US Gulf
Coast. Financial turmoil that could potentially slow the US economy and the
knock-on effect on petroleum demand growth has tempered RBOB's ability to
rally with the rest of the complex.
--Linda Rafield, linda_rafield@platts.com