Spanish:
 
|
Oil prices ease, remain within reach of historic peaks
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 04 24 06World oil prices eased Monday on light profit-taking after blazing a trail last week to record high points which were hit on escalating concerns over the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Crude futures smashed through 75.0 dollars in New York and 74.0 dollars in London on Friday amid rising tensions over Iran's controversial nuclear programme, combined with news of tight US gasoline or petrol supplies.
In Monday trading, New York's new main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, lost 18 cents to 74.99 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the market's official opening.
In overnight electronic Asian trading, New York crude had hit an all-time record of 75.35 dollars per barrel -- matching the same historic peak it had struck late on Friday.
In London on Monday, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery slid ten cents to 74.47 dollars per barrel in electronic dealing.
Brent crude had climbed to a historic peak of 74.79 dollars on Friday.
The market's slight cooling on Monday came after global finance chiefs called over the weekend for action against runaway oil prices and OPEC member Kuwait proposed reactivating standby capacity in an effort to prevent further increases.
"It's a little pullback from the record last Friday," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
"However, I still expect the market to remain strong. The Iranian issue is not going to be resolved any time soon so it will keep prices strong," he added.
Iran has insisted that it will continue sensitive nuclear fuel cycle work despite the UN Security Council's deadline this Friday for it to freeze uranium enrichment.
The market is concerned crude supplies from Iran would be severely disrupted in the event of any military action by Washington.
Iran is the world's fourth largest crude producer and the second-biggest in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao met over the weekend with Saudi King Abdullah and senior Saudi officials on a proposed Chinese strategic reserve that would come on top of around 22.18 million tons of Saudi oil exports to China last year.
Riyadh is China's biggest supplier of crude oil.
The reserve would be set up in a coastal city in southeast China, to be used by Beijing in case of emergency.
AFP 04 24 06 0852 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels