Oil prices flat in Asian trade

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Oil prices were flat in Asian trade Friday in a market vulnerable to profit-taking after touching record highs, dealers said.

At 11:02 am (0302 GMT), New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, was three cents higher at 76.89 dollars per barrel from 76.86 dollars in late US trades on Thursday.

The contract jumped to 78.77 dollars on Wednesday after the US Department of Energy (DoE) reported that US crude stockpiles sank 6.5 million barrels in the week ended July 27.

Brent North Sea crude for September slipped one cent to 75.75 dollars.

Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz Inc in Singapore, said the market's recent bullishness has a lot to do with the entry of speculators.

Physical factors have not supported the market's remaining at record levels "and profit-taking has resulted in this rather choppy trading over the last couple of days."

Although crude inventories fell more than the market had expected in this week's US report, they are still at the upper end of the historical range, Shum said.

"Refineries in the US are finally running well," he added.

Analysts said the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has not commented on the record price, was now obliged to consider increasing production after consistently resisting calls from the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy policy adviser to 26 member industrialised countries.

OPEC has argued the price gains are linked not to a lack of crude but to refining problems in the United States and to geopolitical tensions and speculation.

Indonesia's energy minister said late Thursday that OPEC has yet to indicate whether it will raise output.

The cartel is to meet next month in Vienna.

"The picture should be clearer by then," Indonesian Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters.