International oil prices ended off their highs on Friday, tempered by profit-taking on the high-flying US gasoline market where prices have been lifted by fears of a shortage in the peak summer demand period.
US light crude ended seven cents a barrel higher at $37.38 a barrel. US gasoline eased from its fresh all-time peak of $1.2650 a gallon, settling 0.23 cents a gallon up at $1.2467.
At their highest levels this trading session, the gasoline crack spread - the premium on gasoline over crude - was above $15.
London's Brent crude ended three cents up at $34.48, after hitting a session high of $35.00, its highest since October 2000. "Gasoline is relentless in the face of weakening fundamentals across the rest of the crude complex," Josh Sadler, energy analyst with Societe Generale, said in a report.
"Current (US gasoline) stock levels need to increase at least 5 percent by the end of May to alleviate the continued upward price pressure," he said.
Some speculators banking on crude oil prices perhaps hitting $50 a barrel by the summer, and bets in the crude oil options market showed on Friday.
These speculators, playing on the potential of oil supply being disrupted by violence in the Middle East, have bought crude oil call options at prices of $40 and $50 a barrel on the June to October contracts, according to data from the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday urged Opec to boost production limits at their June meeting to help top up world oil inventories, but cartel-member Venezuela said there were no plans to do so.
"That is not planned," Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Thursday, "We have been cautious. We did one cut, and we will continue to evaluate what measures we will take to defend prices."
IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil disputed Opec's contention that crude stocks were sufficient and that the shortage was only in oil products, especially US gasoline, arguing that the inventory levels did not allow the necessary safety margin.
"If something unexpected happens, there could be a real oil crisis," he told Reuters in Paris.
Opec will meet next on June 3 in Beirut. The cartel agreed from April 1 to cut one million barrels per day in output to help counter an expected seasonal dip in demand in the second quarter.
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