What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•Global crude futures, in particular ICE Brent, jumped above $63/barrel as the Brent loading program for January showed a 41% fall compared to December, brokers said.

•North Sea Brent Blend crude loadings for January are set to fall to 158,516 b/d from December's output level, market sources said Friday, down 41% December. Trading sources said that the larger program in December was a major factor in the reduction of output in January, while unconfirmed talk production problems persist.

•Futures prices fell significantly Thursday despite militants attacking Eni's Brass terminal in Nigeria in the Bayelsa state of the Niger Delta. Four workers were taken hostage in the latest violent incident that has plagued the region, home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil industry. On Friday, however, a spokesman for Eni's Agip upstream unit in Lagos said that oil tankers were loading normally from the 200,000 b/d terminal.

Updated: 12/08/07