TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures headed lower
on Monday towards $109 a barrel, after three days of gains,
despite comments by Saudi Arabia confirming a cut in crude
production to counter an oversupplied market.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for May delivery <CLc1>, which expires on
Tuesday, was down 47 cents at $109.19 a barrel by 2311 GMT,
after settling up $1.55 at $109.66 on Friday.
The contract has fallen from an April 11 intraday peak of
$113.46, its highest level since September 2008, amid
expectations the conflict in Libya would lead to a prolonged
disruption of the OPEC nation's supplies.
* In London, ICE Brent crude for June delivery <LCOc1> was
trading at $123.48, up 3 cents.
* Saudi Arabia's oil minister said on Sunday the kingdom had
slashed output by 800,000 barrels per day in March due to
oversupply, sending the strongest signal yet that OPEC will not
act to quell soaring prices. []
"The market is overbalanced ... Our production in February
was 9.125 million barrels per day (bpd), in March it was 8.292
million bpd. In April we don't know yet, probably a little
higher than March," Ali al-Naimi told reporters in Kuwait.
Consumers have urged the exporters' group to pump more crude
to put a cap on London's Brent oil, which surged to more than
$127 a barrel this month, its highest level in 2-1/2 years amid
unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.
* UAE Oil Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen al Hamli said on
Sunday that current oil prices do not reflect market
fundamentals and that demand was being met with adequate
supplies, according to the United Arab Emirates' official news
agency WAM. []
* The world's oil markets are oversupplied and OPEC should
not increase production to counter high prices, Kuwait's oil
minister said on Sunday. []
The minister said Kuwait was currently pumping 2.2 million
bpd of oil.
* OPEC should be flexible in the future with its supply
policy, the managing director of the International Energy Agency
said on Sunday, but he stopped short of calling on the group to
add supply to the market. []
Nobuo Tanaka told reporters he was worried about the effect
of the current price of oil on economic growth and said the
market was getting tighter.
* Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces fired rockets on
Sunday at rebels stationed along the edge of Ajdabiyah, sending
some residents fleeing from the eastern town, witnesses said.
[]
A sandstorm whipped up during the morning, obscuring the
flat expanse of desert stretching west to the oil town of Brega.
Rebel fighter Ahmed al-Zuwaihi blamed the weather for a lack of
air strikes on Gaddafi's armour by NATO warplanes.
* In the week to April 12, money managers cut their net long
positions in crude futures and options by 23,718 positions as
prices fell, according to the the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. []
MARKETS NEWS
* Encouraging economic indicators sent U.S. stocks higher on
Friday, but the market's recent struggles are set to continue
into this week when more than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies
report results.
The S&P 500 fell for a second straight week, and some in the
market pointed to strong resistance building around 1,340. The
daily chart shows a bearish double top near that level.
* The euro was down at $1.4418, off a 15-month high of
$1.4521 touched last week.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Monday: (Time in GMT)
- 1400 - Euro Zone Consumer Confidence/April
- 1400 - US NAHB housing market index/April
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Joseph Radford)
