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Oil prices mixed on eve of US energy report
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 05 31 07World oil prices were mixed Wednesday as traders monitored unrest in Nigeria and awaited the weekly US report on energy reserves.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, rose 34 cents to close at 63.49 dollars a barrel. On Tuesday the contract shed 2.05 dollars.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery slipped 29 cents to close at 67.47 dollars a barrel, after losing 1.58 dollars Tuesday.
Crude prices fell Tuesday on news US refineries were coming back on line after outages and repairs, signaling rising energy stocks, and easing tensions in Nigeria,
Africa's biggest producer.
The selloff "was probably a bit overdone," said Mike Fitzpatrick of Man Financial.
"There was certainly a sigh of relief that Nigerian oil workers ended a strike before oil flows were affected any further," he said.
"But the notion that violence and militant attacks on Nigeria's oil sector would decline with the new leadership taking office, will probably prove to be illusory," he said, referring to President Umaru YarAdua, who was sworn in Tuesday.
Recent unrest in Nigeria, including a string of kidnappings of foreigners, has reduced oil output in the world's sixth-largest producer by about 25 percent.
The oil market's attention was focused on the latest weekly snapshot of US refinery activity and energy inventory levels, to be published Thursday, a day later than usual because of a US public holiday Monday.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) will publish its update on energy stockpiles for the week ending May 25.Some traders said they expected to see inventory builds across the board.
But Man Financial's Fitzpatrick warned against overhyping any increases.
" Sporadic, relatively small builds in gasoline supplies will not resolve the overall supply problem, especially if demand stays strong which will also tax the infrastructure," he said.Oil prices in London had leapt to almost 72 dollars a barrel last week, energized in part by concerns about tight gasoline supplies in the United States ahead of the summer driving season.
Gasoline, or petrol, stocks are about 7.0 percent below year-ago levels as a result of refinery problems in the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer.
AFP 30 2021 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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