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Oil prices nudge lower in Europe

LONDON: Weak US. gasoline markets pushed oil prices slightly lower on Friday, but most analysts were confident that the mildly bullish trend over the past few weeks was not over yet.

At 1515 GMT, London September futures for international benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil stood at $16.12 a barrel, down 11 cents from Thursday's close.

With the end of the brief scare over Hurricane Erin, the storm having pushed north and away from the U.S. Gulf, oil traders looked again at fundamentals.

"We've seen weakness today and the main source for this was (U.S.) gasoline," said Alistair Harris, analyst at London brokerage Mees Pierson.

Despite lower prices, analysts remained confident that oil prices could continue to their progress away from the 10-month $15.41 a barrel low of July 24. They said seasonal demand for heating oil to build stocks ahead of the northern hemisphere winter was likely to tilt oil prices higher.

"Heating oil is certainly providing good support," said Harris. "And fundamentally we are seeing that the stock levels are under reasonable control."

Tom James of GNI Research, although acknowledging that heating oil would dip on Friday, agreed. "Still bullish," he said of crude futures prices.

Crude prices in dollars per barrel at 1515 GMT Friday:

Aug 4

Aug 3

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Dated Brent

$16.02 $16.13

London IPE Brent futures (September) $16.12 $16.23

NYMEX light crude futures (September) $17.60 $17.72-Reuter