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		Home Page Oil Falls as Speculators Take Profits Tue February 3, 2004 01:54 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday as speculators took profits from Monday's dramatic rally. U.S. light crude futures (CLc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) were down 51 cents a barrel to $34.47, while London Brent (LCOc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) lost 48 cents to trade at $29.765. Monday's nearly $2 rally was fueled by gasoline prices, which shot higher after two refinery fires in the U.S. Midwest stirred worries over regional fuel stocks. Crude's long winter rally, which has added more than $7 a barrel to U.S. futures since late September, has seen speculators amassing huge net long positions that analysts say they may soon unwind as warmer weather appears on the horizon. "The impact of the hedge funds on market volatility has been profound," said William Buchanan of Standard Bank in London. "In past times, market participants could weigh up the fundamental and technical considerations and form a reasonable view as to where prices were heading. Today the fund managers make a similar analysis but it is the sheer volume in trades and size of positions that can sometimes overwhelm the oil market," he added. The market will also get another look at supply conditions in the United States when the government releases its latest weekly inventory data on Wednesday at 1030 EST (1530 GMT). A survey of analysts by Reuters showed that expectations are for a drawdown in heating oil and gasoline stocks but for a slight build in crude oil stocks. Ahead of next week's OPEC meeting in Algiers, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Monday the cartel could cut or leave output quotas unchanged. "A cut is possible or we could leave it as it is," Ramirez told reporters at a gas conference in Trinidad, but ruled out any increase in production. Several oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries member nations have said recently oil prices were running too high for the cartel to reduce production. Ministers have said they are fear a price slide in the second quarter as demand ebbs following the Northern Hemisphere winter and rival production comes onstream from non-OPEC Russia. Russian oil major LUKOIL (LKOH.RTS: Quote , Profile , Research ) on Tuesday raised its 2004 oil output growth forecast to 6-7 percent from 4.3 percent previously. Russia's energy ministry said last week it expected production to rise six to eight percent in 2004 after a record 11 percent boost last year.   Back to Original Article: Mortgage News You Can Use   Continue with: Companies make lots of pink-slip plans in January Bush calls for revised savings plans Wages, factory hiring fall 2 engines of growth power economy Job cut announcements jump
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