 | |  | | Oil prices weaken in Asian morning trade on profit taking
2007年7月8日 23:11:00
SINGAPORE (* Financial) - Oil prices were lower in Singapore trade Monday on profit-taking, but US gasoline (petrol) supply concerns were expected to limit the downside, dealers said.
Worries over heightened civil unrest in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, should also lend support to prices, they said.
At 10:57 am (0257 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, was down 25 cents at 72.56 US dollars a barrel from 72.81 dollars in late US trade Friday after reaching their highest levels since late August last year.
Brent North Sea crude for August delivery fell two cents to 75.60 dollars.
'Prices should be going down because the market is completely overheated and overbought,' said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.
The decline is expected to be brief because of existing concerns over low US gasoline stocks and the unrest in Nigeria, he said, adding: 'Those are still major issues in the market.'
US gasoline reserves were about 4.2 percent below their level at the same time last year, according to figures released last week.
In Nigeria, daily exports of 2.6 million barrels have been reduced by a quarter because of unrest -- including abductions of foreign oil workers -- in the oil-producing south. |  |  |  |  |
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