Friday, July 21 2006 11:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Oil prices steadied today (July 21, 2006) as the market tracked events in the troubled Middle East and digested US energy data following three days of losses for crude futures.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery won 11 cents to 74.01 dollars per barrel in electronic trading.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, fell 21 cents to 72.45 dollars per barrel in pit trading.

The August contract expires at the close of trading on Thursday, replaced by September delivery.

"The market's trying to come to terms with factoring how much risk there is in the current situation," Global Insight analyst Simon Wardell said.

Oil prices struck record peaks at the start of the week owing to raging violence in the Middle East, before sliding amid expectations that the Israel-Lebanon crisis would likely not spread beyond the region nor involve major crude producer Iran, according to traders.

Crude futures have also dropped after the US Department of Energy (DoE) revealed Wednesday that energy stockpiles in the United States rose across the board last week.

Supporting prices, however, is strong demand for motor fuel in the United States. The DoE on Wednesday said that petrol, or gasoline, demand rose by 1.9 percent over the past four weeks, compared with the same period in 2005.