Oil down in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: World oil prices were lower in Asian trade on Tuesday as investors locked in profits from a recent surge, but protests in the Arab world remained a concern, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, known as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was down 23 cents to $108.24 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for May delivery fell seven cents to $120.99.

"Oil prices pulled back as the high prices prompted profit-taking from traders and investors," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz international energy consultants in Singapore. Crude prices surged to two-and-a-half-year highs on Monday with Brent crude topping $120 a barrel for the first time since August 22, 2008 due to the continuing unrest in Libya and positive US economic data. Statistics released by the US Labour Department Friday showed unemployment in the world's biggest oil consumer declining by 1.0 percentage point to 8.8 percent in March, giving "an upbeat reading on the US economy that supported oil," Shum told AFP. Investors remain jittery over the political situation in the oil-producing Middle East and North Africa region where popular uprisings have already toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.

With Libyan rebels fighting to depose veteran leader Moamer Qadhafi with the help of warplanes from Western powers, and street protests rocking Syria, there are fears the unrest could spread to the rest of the region and disrupt oil supplies. Yemeni security forces shot dead at least 17 protesters on Monday as Gulf States offered to mediate and Washington appeared to be pulling the plug on embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh. In Gabon, sub-Saharan Africa's fourth-largest oil producer, a strike by oil-sector employees had halted almost all oil production. Gabon's oil daily output normally ranges from 220,000 to 240,000 barrels. The Libyan government said Tuesday it was ready to negotiate reforms, but refused any talk of Qadhafi stepping down. Oil-rich Libya was producing 1.69 million barrels a day before the unrest, according to the International Energy Agency. It is now producing 400,000 barrels a day.