World oil prices skidded Monday as Iraq pumped oil through its southern pipelines and Russia vowed to step up exports, but analysts said the days of high prices were not yet over.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude oil for delivery in October, slumped 67 cents to 46.05 dollars a barrel. It marked a long retreat from Friday's all-time high 49.40 dollars.
Brent North Sea crude oil for October dropped 51 cents to 43.03 dollars a barrel.
Oil exports from southern Iraq were moving at 83,000 barrels an hour, about the normal rate, through two pipelines in the south, a South Oil Company official told AFP in the southern port of Basra.
Exports had dropped to less than half that rate over the previous two weeks after Shiite Muslim militia loyal to Moqtada Sadr threatened to blow up pipelines feeding two southern terminals.
"It is pretty good news out of Iraq," said Refco market analyst Marshall Steeves, citing both the full-strength southern pipeline exports and news of resumed flows through northern pipelines.
Further depressing prices, Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President George W. Bush in a telephone call that Russian oil companies would boost exports, a White House spokesman said.
Putin's assurance seemed contradictory in the face of Russian oil titan Yukos' announcement that it was cutting its 2004 output forecast because the authorities had blocked its access to bank accounts.
Nevertheless, the Iraq news was enough to take just a little steam out of the market, Steeves said.
But "the uptrend is still intact," he said.
"We would have to see a very substantial decline (in prices) to really change that perspective."
The market appeared to have been weakened by its failure to reach 50 dollars a barrel in New York on Friday, Steeves said.
"I think with the news out of Iraq it is going to be harder to get to 50 dollars but it is still a strong market," he said.
Taking the shine off the news of resumed Iraqi oil exports, US and Iraqi forces battled Shiite Muslim militia near the Imam Ali shrine in the central city of Najaf.
The latest easing of prices was likely to be only a brief respite, analysts warned, especially in light of the Iraq fighting.
"It is just a little bit of a pull back (for prices), but I still think we are in an up trend," Investec analyst Bruce Evers said in London.
"It is a just a pause for breath," he said.
Evers said the market expected reasonably steady production from Yukos because the Russian government needed the revenue.
CRAWFORD: Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President George W. Bush on Monday that Russian oil companies were boosting production as well as exports and would continue to do so.
"President Putin noted Russian oil companies are increasing production and exports and will continue to do so," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters at the president's Texas ranch.
Putin and Bush also discussed the importance of keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons as well as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, McClellan said.