London (Platts)--3Jul2009

Crude oil futures in Europe were rangebound Friday, unable to recover
from bearish economic and oil data released this weak, sources said, with the
market also seeing light trading activity due to today's US public holiday.

August Brent futures were down 26 cents/barrel at 11:00 GMT at $66.39/b,
while August NYMEX WTI was down $0.10/b at $77.54/b.

The small drop in prices followed losses of more than $2/b Thursday after
news of worse-than-expected US economic data.

"Sentiments are still under pressure with the physical market affected by
the macroeconomic picture," a crude oil analyst said.

US job losses surged to 467,000 in June, lifting the unemployment rate to
a 26-year high of 9.5%. The data added to an already gloomy mood in the
petroleum complex stemming from the US oil products stocks data released this
week.

Contrary to historical trends, US gasoline demand, which normally picks
up ahead of the July 4 weekend, fell 76,000 b/d to 9.053 million b/d
week-over-week, the US Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday.

"We started to see a correction following the release of the US stocks,"
said Mike Wittner, global head of oil research at Societe Generale.

Some sources said the recent upswing in oil prices had come on the back
of non-fundamental factors, leaving the market ripe for a correction.

"The futures market is seeing outside interest which is not driven by
fundamentals. This is leading to 15%-20% variation from the price based on
fundamentals," the crude oil analyst said.

The source projected that Brent crude oil would likely remain in a range
of $60-$70/b for the next six months as a result of the current macroeconomic
situation and crude oil fundamentals.
--Walid Kurdi, walid_kurdi@platts.com