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Oil prices ease in Asian trading
AFP
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com 03 31 06Oil prices eased in Asian trade Friday on by profit taking after a week of huge gains, dealers said
At 11:23 am (0323 GMT) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was down 26 cents to 66.89 dollars a barrel from 67.15 dollars in the US on Thursday, its highest level in almost two months.
Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures, said the market feels "crude and gasoline prices are a little overboard so they are taking profit."
Crude futures spiked this week after fresh tensions in Nigeria and Iran raised concerns over global crude supply and US inventory figures showed a sharp fall in gasoline (petrol) stocks.
The drop comes at an especially crucial time when many US motorists prepare to take to the road for their vacations.
Iran refused Thursday to comply with a UN Security Council demand to freeze uranium enrichment, defying a warning from major world powers which fear Tehran secretly wants an atomic bomb.
Foreign ministers of the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany warned at talks in Berlin that Iran would find itself isolated if it pursued the standoff over its nuclear program.
The Security Council unanimously decided on Wednesday to call on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities within 30 days. Notably lacking was threat of punitive action.
"We've got the UN issuing a 30 day non-binding warning to Iran plus the unrest in Nigeria -- it's all adding fuel to the fire," Peter Luxton an analyst with Informa Global Markets, said.
Iran, the world's fourth biggest producer of crude, has said it may cut its oil exports if hit with UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
Separately, Nigerian separatists who released three hostages Monday, have said that their release was in no way a signal of the end to their violent campaign.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer of crude whose output has seen a cut of more than 20 percent since attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta.
AFP 31 03 06 0335 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
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