By Eric Yep
Crude-oil futures moved in a narrow price range in Asian trade
Friday after dropping overnight on high stockpiles of gasoline in
the U.S. and as markets await tighter sanctions against Russia.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in September traded at $102.04 a barrel at 0607 GMT,
down $0.03 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude
on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.14 to $107.21 a
barrel.
Both the oil benchmarks lost almost a dollar each overnight, and
Nymex crude has now settled lower for three of the past five
sessions and Brent has been down for two of the past three
sessions.
The real concern for U.S. crude-oil traders is that ample
gasoline inventories and falling gasoline prices may prompt
refiners to cut back on operating levels, analyst Tim Evans at Citi
Futures said in a report.
Meanwhile, the European Union is readying sanctions on a range
of Russian economic sectors, in an escalation of efforts to isolate
Moscow for its alleged support of separatists in eastern
Ukraine.
On Thursday, U.S. officials said Russia was firing artillery
across its border at Ukrainian military positions, indicating that
Moscow is directly engaging in hostilities against Ukrainian
forces.
In Libya, the eastern port of Brega is set to restart crude
exports after a tanker arrived Thursday, as the country ramps up
exports despite escalating violence in the capital.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark
gasoline contract--rose 58 points to $2.8426 a gallon, while August
heating oil traded at $2.8766, 57 points higher.
ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $887.25 a metric ton, up
$1.50 from Thursday's settlement.
Write to Eric Yep at eric.yep@wsj.com