* Crude prices plummeted on swelling supply, trade concerns
* Asian refiners plan run cuts amid fuel glut
* OPEC cuts, Mideast tension prevent prices from falling
further
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, May 24 (Reuters) - Oil markets stabilised on
Friday amid OPEC supply cuts and tensions in the Middle East,
after posting their steepest falls since the start of the year
earlier in the week on the back of a global economic slowdown
and swelling fuel inventories.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 , the international benchmark for
oil prices, were at $68.05 per barrel at 0044 GMT, up 29 cents,
or 0.4 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were
up 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $58.27 per barrel.
"Multiple supply risks remain, as tension continues between
Iran and the U.S., which could turn disruptive," ANZ bank said
on Friday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
has led supply cuts since the start of the year aimed at
tightening the market and propping up prices.
ANZ said U.S. sanctions on Iran's and Venezuela's oil
industries would likely further reduce crude exports from OPEC,
of which both countries are members.
But Friday's firmer prices could not make up the much bigger
slumps from earlier in the week, which have put crude futures on
track for their biggest weekly losses this year. From mid-week, rising oil inventories in the United States
started weighing on prices. "Increasing (oil) inventories and slumping U.S.
manufacturing activity exacerbated trade related concerns about
global demand," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC
Markets in Australia, said in a note, pulling WTI below $60 per
barrel and Brent below $70 per barrel.
And the glut has spread beyond North America. Struggling to
cope with oversupply from fuels, Asian refinery margins this
week fell to their lowest seasonal levels since the financial
crisis a decade ago, triggering plans for refinery run cuts.
"In China, gasoline stockpiles at seaports were seen rising
to a multi-year high, this can shrink the margins for refiners
and lead to softer oil demand from China," ANZ bank said on
Friday.
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GRAPHIC: Asia refinery profit margins https://tmsnrt.rs/2X3FoJo
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