Crude oil futures prices outlook july 22 2011

Crude oil futures prices outlook july 22 2011 ; Crude oil futures prices were slightly weaker Friday after a run to triple digits stalled out Friday amid anticipation of coming increases in U.S. petroleum inventories.

Traders said that without fresh U.S. economic data on Friday's calendar, interest was thin, with players reassessing positions after prices rose to a seven-week high above $100 a barrel on Thursday, but failed to settle above that level.

The euro held much of its strong gains made against the dollar on Thursday after a new bailout plan for Greece buoyed the outlook for euro zone economies. Normally weakness in the dollar would spark buying interest in dollar-denominated commodities like oil by investors using other currencies. But traders said a weaker tone in U.S. stock index futures Friday, on the heels of the highest close in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after the highest close since May 10, was keeping oil buyers at bay.

Light, sweet crude oil futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was 40 cents lower at $98.73 a barrel, after trading in a range of $98.43 to $99.83 a barrel. ICE September Brent crude was 22 cents higher, at $117.73 a barrel.

Deliveries of some 30.64 million barrels of crude oil sold from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have begun and are expected to begin showing up in weekly oil inventory data in coming weeks, traders said. Some 8.7 million barrels of the crude is expected to ship by the end of July and begin refilling stocks which fell by 22 million barrels over the past seven weeks.

The market was buoyed by news Thursday that the International Energy Agency doesn't now plan a further oil sale beyond the current move, which released 60 million barrels into the market, the bulk of which came from the U.S. The IEA said the release, needed to cover oil supplies lost as a result of the ongoing Libyan civil war, and higher output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has improved the supply outlook for the second half of the year.

But those barrels will be arriving at refineries as demand for key petroleum products like gasoline remains weak amid rising prices in the peak summer demand season. U.S. data show demand of just over 9 million barrels a day in the week ended July 15 was more than 400,000 barrels a day below a year ago. AAA Daily Fuel Gauge reports said Friday the national average retail price for regular gasoline was $3.695 a gallon, up 2.8 cents from a week earlier.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill., said the SPR oil could cause a counter-seasonal rise in crude stocks, especially in the main Gulf Coast refining region.

Still, he said that Thursday's push to $100 a barrel intraday appears to have stirred new commodity fund buying interest which could spark further gains next week, especially if the White House and Congressional leaders can hammer out an agreement on the U.S. debt. In the near-term, Ritterbusch said crude is likely to follow the lead of the stock market.

August-delivery reformulated gasoline futures were 0.88 cent higher at $3.1083 a gallon, while August heating oil futures were 1.08 cent higher at $3.11 a gallon.