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Oil slipped yesterday as traders took profits after North Sea supply disruptions and fund buying earlier brought crude within 25c of record highs.
Global benchmark London Brent traded down 33c to $77.24 a barrel. Brent had traded up to a fresh 11-month high of $78.40 in early activity, just shy of the record $78.65 struck in August. US crude rose 2c to $73.95 a barrel.
"Brent is down more on profit-taking than anything else, since that market has risen so sharply.
"People are reacting to that, rethinking their positions," said Nauman Barakat, senior vice-president at Macquarie Futures USA.
Seasonal maintenance on North Sea oil fields and unanticipated outages have fuelled a near three-week rally, lifting Brent by more than US$7 since late June. "The markets will retain focus on North Sea production problems and refinery outages in the week ahead.
"These factors will continue to support prices at the current levels," said David Moore at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Speculative investors have also added to the rise in oil, pushing cash into the commodity as fundamentals tighten amid concerns that US refiners' struggle to produce enough petrol will hurt the building of heating fuel inventories.
Goldman Sachs said in a research note oil prices could reach $95 a barrel by the end of the year if Opec does not ease production cuts.
- REUTERS
