(Updates prices, analyst's comments)
By Fayen Wong
SYDNEY, March 10 (Reuters) - Oil was steady above $105 on
Monday, supported by a bout of cold weather in the United
States and a sliding U.S. dollar, but prices stayed below
Friday's record high above $106 as supply disruptions in Mexico
eased.
U.S. light crude for April delivery <CLc1> was up 11 cents
at $105.26 a barrel by 0449 GMT.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 10 cents to $102.48.
"The re-opening of the oil ports in Mexico has taken away
some of the bullishness but the cold snap in the United States
is still supportive of prices," said David Moore, a resource
analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
One of Mexico's three main crude oil ports, Dos Bocas,
reopened to shipping, the transport ministry said on Sunday,
after a three-day closure because of bad weather in the Gulf of
Mexico. []
Mexico, the world's No. 9 exporter of crude oil and a top
three supplier to the United States, has seen its crude exports
repeatedly disrupted in recent months, often resulting in its
crude shipments being halted for days at a time.
A late-season winter storm slammed into the Ohio Valley on
Saturday, with freezing rain, ice and sleet forcing flight
delays and cancellations at airports and forecasters predicting
the storm to head towards the U.S. Northeast. []
Analysts said a sliding U.S. dollar, which fell back toward
a record low against the euro and an eight-year low versus the
yen on Monday, were also keeping oil prices near records.
Easing tensions between OPEC member Venezuela, a top oil
exporter to the United States, and neighbour Colombia, also
kept oil price gains in check.
The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a
border dispute on Friday, after a week of regional diplomacy in
the face of hostile rhetoric and troop build-ups.
[]
Still, some analysts say expectations of more dollar
weakness, continued tensions in Nigeria and the Middle East as
well as increased speculative funds pouring into commodities
could keep pushing oil prices to new highs.
NYMEX crude has set an intraday record 12 times since Jan.
2, when prices first hit $100. Settlements above $100 have been
reached in nine of the last 14 sessions, the latest being
Friday's $105.15.
Crude speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange hiked
net long positions last week, according to data from the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.
Net crude long positions rose to 99,539 in the week to
March 4, up from 91,625 in the week to Feb. 26.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
