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= OIL FUTURES: Brent Crude Rises As Iran Noise Intensifies
(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LONDON, Apr 25, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --By Tim Falconer
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Crude prices in London rose Tuesday as Iranian jawboning over its nuclear activities intensified ahead of Friday's U.N. deadline to stop uranium enrichment.
At 1025 GMT, the front-month June Brent contract on London's ICE Futures exchange was up 75 cents at $73.75 a barrel.
The front month June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 52 cents higher at $73.90/bbl.
In terms of products, the ICE's gasoil contract for May delivery was up $3.25 at $644.75 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for May delivery was down 0.39 cent at $2.1728 a gallon.
Crude prices clawed back a chunk of Monday's sharp profit-taking sell down which saw front month ICE Brent tumble $1.57 a barrel.
A ramp up in talk regarding Iran's uranium enrichment activities flushed out some weak short positions Tuesday and helped propel oil higher, brokers said. Earlier, Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Iran will withdraw from all cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions against it.
The statements by Ali Larijani came a day after Iran's president - facing a Friday U.N. deadline to stop uranium enrichment - boldly predicted the Security Council wouldn't impose sanctions on Tehran and warned he was thinking about dropping out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"This issue isn't going away in a hurry and any escalation in talk is bound to cause the futures market concern given the size of Iran's oil exports," said one oil broker in London.
Iran's oil minister quelled speculation Tuesday it might shut access to the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf if international sanctions were imposed.
"Again I say that Iran has never during any war, even the Iran-Iraq war, cut its exports even by one day," Vaziri told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
Meanwhile some nervousness ahead of Wednesday's inventory report from the U.S. Department of Energy is also helping bolster prices.
According to a survey of analysts by Dow Jones crude stocks likely fell on average by 137,500 barrels in the week ended April 21. Closely watched gasoline stocks are picked to fall by 2.4 million barrels.
Worries about the state of U.S. gasoline stock levels heading into the high demand summer driving season has played a big part in recent strength across the entire energy complex.
"I wouldn't feel too comfortable being short this market especially with the weekly DOE stats due tomorrow," said one oil broker.
In other news, China's crude oil imports surged in the first quarter 2006, but this may slow slightly in the coming months as refiners strain under mounting stocks.
The country's March crude imports, at 12.73 million metric tons, or 3.01 million barrels a day, marked a 10.9% rise over the same month in 2005, and reflected the strong growth so far this year.
-By Tim Falconer, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 207-842- 9449; tim.falconer@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-25-06 0632ET
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