Friday, April 7 2006 10:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: Oil prices eased in Asian trading today (Apr 7, 2006) on profit-taking but remained near 68 dollars as fears of a supply crunch continued to rattle the market, dealers said.

At 10:55 am (local time), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery was down 32 cents at 67.62 dollars a barrel from its close of 67.94 dollars in the United States yesterday, Prices reached as high as 68.20 dollars a barrel in New York yesterday before closing at 67.94 dollars, up 87 cents, because of fears of a supply crunch linked to falling US gasoline supplies and tensions in Nigeria and Iran.

"After four days of gains there will be a correction and usually it's at the end of the week when there is profit-taking," said Daruisz Kowalczyk a Hong-Kong based senior investment strategist with CFC Seymour Securities.

He expects prices to ease further.

"The geo-political risk premium is there, the gasoline impact is there, all those factors are already built into the price, so we should go lower from now," he said.

Crude futures in New York rose after the US Department of Energy (DoE) said Wednesday that US stockpiles of gasoline (petrol) dived by 4.4 million barrels to 211.8 million barrels in the week to March 31.

"Right now gasoline levels are lower than a year ago so gasoline pulls other energy commodities up with it," Kowalczyk said.

The dip in stockpiles come at a crucial time when investors are growing more edgy as US motorists go on long drives during summer which starts in late May.