US oil prices edged lower today after surging $3 in two days as buyers switched to heating oil amid concerns over winter supplies and renewed fears that global oil flows could tighten again.
Exports from Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, could be hit after oil giant YUKOS said it might stop operations after a Moscow court froze its bank accounts. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria hinted OPEC might not raise output limits further.
US light crude dipped 27 cents to $38.47 a barrel, after rising $1.69 yesterday, led by gas oil and heating oil. The US market will close for a holiday on Monday. London Brent was quoted at $35.75/$35.82 a barrel, after ending $1.57 higher at $36.07 yesterday.
The re-emergence of fund speculators, who were piling into European gas oil and US heating oil, put a brake on a month-long dive that took oil prices down about $6, or 15 per cent, from 21-year highs of $42.45 on June 2nd.
Traders said a less-than-expected rise in US distillate stocks of half a million barrels last week versus forecasts for a 1.5 million-barrel build, stirred fears of low heating oil supply in the fourth quarter because US refiners had focused on gasoline production this summer.