Oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel Monday as traders pocketed gains from the previous session's record settlement, according to AP. The release of eight Turkish soldiers by Kurdish rebels Sunday also contributed to the decline, easing some concerns about whether Turkey will launch attacks on guerrilla bases in northern Iraq. Escalating tensions in the Middle East could disrupt oil supplies out of the region. Optimistic supply news also helped bring prices down. Vienna's PVM Oil Associates reported that Iraqi crude exports were up by nearly 200,000 barrels a day in October at 1.84 million barrels a day. And, said PVM, Russian oil output was reported up 0.6 percent last month compared to the previous month, marking «a new post-Soviet high» of 9.93 million barrels a day. But prices remained supported by a tight supply-demand balance heading into the Northern Hemisphere winter, said Tetsu Emori, commodity markets fund manager at ASTMAX Futures Co. in Tokyo. «Profit-taking should be the main factor moving the market today,» Emori said. Light, sweet crude for December delivery dropped $1.89 to $94.04 a barrel by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had risen $2.44 on Friday to settle at a record $95.93 a barrel after trading as high as USS$96.05 _ short of a trading record of $96.24 a barrel set Thursday. Crude prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on the how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today. In London, December Brent crude lost US1.59 to $90.49 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Refinery problems continue to support crude futures. Operations at a 172,000 barrel-per-day Petroplus Holdings AG refinery in England are expected to be limited for a month due to a fire earlier last week. And Chevron Corp. said Friday that a 330,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Mississippi will run at reduced rates until early next year due to an August fire. Additionally, investors already concerned about falling oil supplies received word that Hurricane Noel may have disrupted some oil shipments last week. And analysts said OPEC production increases that began Thursday have been hampered by maintenance at some Middle Eastern oil fields. The confluence of headlines fueled fears that there will be fourth-quarter shortages of oil and other petroleum products. But heating oil futures dropped 3.22 cents to US$2.5415 a gallon (3.8 liters) on the Nymex, while gasoline prices lost 4.26 cents to US$2.3969 a gallon. Natural gas futures declined 28 cents to US$8.138 per 1,000 cubic feet.
