IPE Brent loses ground after setting fresh record above $64/bbl

IPE Brent loses ground after setting fresh record above $64/bbl

London (Platts)--11Aug2005

IPE Brent futures fell Thursday after setting a fresh all-time high earlier in
the session. By 1005 GMT, front month September Brent was at $63.55/bbl, down
44 cts from the previous day's session, having set a fresh record high of
$64.57/bbl some three hours earlier in the session. 

"Yesterday's falls were down to the gasoline stocks draw reported by the DOE
and ongoing refinery concerns," one trader said, "however, the momentum that
gathered yesterday seems to be here to stay, with prices unlikely to crash in
the short-term, but all the same a fall of $3 would not be a disaster." The
inter-month September-October spread closed in to -16cts, with traders citing
supply shortages as the cause. The overnight settle of the same
September-October spread was -29cts. "People were caught out by the North Sea
crude loading program," said one trader, referring to a sharp fall in the
loading program for benchmark Brent crude cargoes in September announced
Wednesday.

Supply concerns were compounded by the International Energy Agency cutting its
projections for non-OPEC supply growth, with non-OPEC supply now expected to
rise by 1.25-mil b/d in 2006, 160,000 b/d less than forecast in July. However,
the IEA announced that it now expected world demand for oil to average
83.72-mil b/d in 2005, down 150,000 b/d from previous projections. The IEA
also reported that world oil production rose to 84.7-mil b/d in July, an
increase of 250,000 b/d from June, as higher OPEC output more than offset
unscheduled output outages in OECD countries.

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