Oil markets were steady today, consolidating recent gains on concerns over a halt on Iraq's oil exports and a US warning of potential cessation in California refinery production due to power outages.
This morning the benchmark US light sweet crude oil futures were trading at $29.04 a barrel, levels unchanged from yesterday's settlement, when the market gained 20 cents.
Oil has been in a holding pattern near $29 a barrel since making strong gains on Monday.
The latest move upwards yesterday came after the US Department of Energy (DOE) said in a report that nearly a quarter of California's gasoline refinery production was at risk of shutting down for up to two weeks if they lose power from expected rolling blackouts.
The report said that some refineries were at risk because they have no back-up generators to produce electricity.
"It would take seven to 14 days to return most of the refineries' operating units to full production if they lost power", the DOE said.
This countered some mid-week relief from inventory data which showed rising US gasoline stocks and led some in the market to prematurely banish worries of a summer supply crisis.
Iraq's halt of oil exports in protest over proposed changes to its oil-for-food programme with the United Nations also remains a key market concern.
Russia said yesterday it would not rush into a decision to revamp the Iraqi sanctions, as demanded by the United States and Britain, thereby raising doubts UN Security Council could meet its July 3rd deadline for a deal.