Brent falls $1 to under $124/bbl on profit taking

19 May 2008 11:16  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Brent crude fell more than $1/bbl on Monday pushing July ICE futures below $124/bbl on profit taking by traders following Friday's record highs.

At 09:20 GMT on Monday, July ICE Brent futures were traded at $123.94/bbl, down $1.05/bbl on the previous close, after earlier falling to a low of $123.66/bbl, down $1.33/bbl.

At the same time, June NYMEX light sweet crude futures were traded at $125.74/bbl, down $0.55/bbl. Earlier the contract hit a low of $125.56/bbl, down $0.73/bbl.

Strong demand for distillates and tight diesel supplies had supported strong rises in the energy complex on Friday lifting both June NYMEX light sweet crude futures and July ICE Brent futures to new intra day record highs of $127.82/bbl and $126.34/bbl respectively.

Iraq said that it planned to raise exports to a post war high of 2.1m bbl/day in June, up from the previous record of 1.93m bbl/day hit in February.

The increase would come from additional exports of Kirkuk crude from northern Iraq, which will be increased to around 600,000 bbl/day in June from 475,000 bbl/day in May due to scheduled maintenance at the domestic Baiji refinery.

OPEC president and Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said on Monday that oil markets were well supplied and that high prices were a result of speculation, a weak dollar and geopolitical problems.

OPEC also had sufficient spare capacity to allow it to meet additional demand, he added.

($1 = €0.64)

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By: James Dennis
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