Crude edges up on weaker dollar, trade seen slim

TOKYO: US crude futures edged up on Monday in electronic trading, helped by the dollar's weakness, but trade was expected to be slim due to the closing of floor trading to mark the US Independence day holiday.

FUNDAMENTALS

NYMEX crude for August delivery was up 18 cents at $95.12 a barrel by 2253 GMT, after settling down 48 cents at $94.94 on Friday.

US crude closed last week higher, bouncing up from four-month lows hit after a surprise move by the 28-nation International Energy Agency to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves.

London Brent crude for August delivery was up 12 cents at $111.89 a barrel, after settling down 71 cents on Friday.

Oil exports from Iraq's southern Basra terminal rose on Sunday to 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd) after a two-day slowdown due to dust storms and high winds, a shipping source said.

Iran will not cut oil supplies to India despite warning refiners it could do so if months of unpaid bills are not settled soon, the Iranian Oil Ministry's news website SHANA said on Sunday.

Yemen will repair a damaged oil pipeline in the coming days, the country's acting president was quoted as saying by the state news agency on Sunday.

A pipeline operated by Exxon Mobil Corp leaked as many as 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana and has been shut down.

The oil company said it had slowed processing rates at its Billings refinery following the leak but did not expect supply disruptions in the area.

Crude oil prices will likely stay between $90 and $100 until the end of 2011 due to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) emergency stock releases, a member of Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Oil prices will likely reach $150 per barrel by next spring, with spikes as high as $170 and gasoline prices of $4.50 a gallon the norm, Barron's said in its latest issue.

Hedge funds and other large speculators cut their net long US crude futures and options positions in New York and London last week to the lowest level since November as prices slid, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday after the market close.

MARKETS NEWS

US stocks started July with a bang on Friday with Wall Street scoring its best week in two years on strong manufacturing data that eased concerns about slowing growth.

The euro was trading near a three-week high as Greece avoided a near-term default.

Copyright Reuters, 2011