Oil drops below 80 dollars on profit-taking

SINGAPORE: Oil fell below 80 dollars a barrel in Asian trade Tuesday as investors locked in profits from recent gains, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April was down 48 cents to 79.83 dollars a barrel.

The March contract closed at 80.16 dollars as it expired Monday after rising for five consecutive sessions on growing signs of a firmer global economic recovery.

London's Brent North Sea crude for April fell 53 cents to 78.08 dollars a barrel.

"On the demand side sentiment has been quite positive... but I think 80 dollars is pretty high given where the fundamentals are," said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

"It could move a bit further upwards, but I wouldn't expect it to continue a sustainable upward trend from here especially while stocks of production in the US are still pretty high."

Supply worries due to a strike at French energy major Total and tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions had also helped bolster prices, analysts said.

The US and other world powers are drumming up support for a fourth round of United Nations sanctions against Iran for its refusal to comply with repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment and agree to a UN-backed nuclear fuel deal.

Washington has saids that Iran's plan to build two new uranium enrichment plants is "further evidence" it rejects engagement with the international community.

In France, striking refinery workers were seeking to choke off the fuel supply to force Total, the world's sixth-largest oil firm by sales, to guarantee their jobs.