Energy futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) mostly fell on Friday due to profit taking, but traders expect benchmark US crude oil prices to rise further when the market there reopens on Monday due to concerns over gasoline supply disruptions. At the end of morning session, TOCOM benchmark August crude was down 160 yen at 30,940 yen per kilolitre. September gasoline was down 520 yen at 45,850 yen/kl, and September kerosene was down 500 yen at 43,440 yen/kl.
But September gas oil, which lagged behind the other contracts' gains in earlier this week, was up by a daily limit of 1,350 yen at 44,130 yen/kl.
"Traders were taking profits, because Dubai prices fell yesterday," said Kaname Gokon, a manager at Okato Shoji Co "They did not want to carry long positions over the long weekend, with overseas markets closed for a holiday today."
Benchmark Middle East crude Dubai price fell by 26 cents to $46.82 a barrel on Thursday.
The New York Mercantile Exchange and London's International Petroleum Exchange are closed today for Good Friday.
On Thursday, US light crude for May delivery settled up $1.03, or 1.9 percent, at $54.84 a barrel after hitting $54.90 near the close on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In London, May Brent crude, settled 89 cents higher at $53.93 a barrel on Thursday.
US prices may rise next week as traders are concerned over gasoline supplies in the US after Wednesday's deadly explosion at BP Plc's (BP.N) (BP.L).
refinery in Texas, which accounts for 3 percent of US gasoline output.
On Thursday, NYMEX April gasoline settled 2.43 cents higher, or 1.5 percent, at $1.5992 a gallon, although BP said that operations at the 470,000 barrel-per-day refinery were continuing and that gasoline production from the refinery was down no more than 5 percent.
NYMEX April heating oil settled 1.48 cents up, or nearly 1 percent at $1.5484 a gallon.
Oil prices have fallen from last week's record peak of $57.60 a barrel, pressured by a rebound in the dollar following the Federal Reserve's move to increase interest rates this week and as crude stocks continued to rise.
US crude stocks rose by 4.1 million barrels, twice as much as expected, to 309.3 million barrels last week, the highest since July 26, 2002.
Gasoline stocks dropped 4.1 million barrels to 217 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell 2.8 million barrels to 104.5 million barrels.
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