Brent crude oil slipped further below $68 a barrel on Friday after tension eased between the European Union and Iran over the OPEC member's nuclear program, Reuters, reports.
Losses were checked, however, by a series of refinery outages in top consumer the United States that have drained gasoline inventories and stoked concern about a supply crunch ahead of the summer driving season.
Prices came under pressure in the previous session after Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tehran and the EU had neared unity in some areas of their talks.
London Brent crude, currently seen as more representative of global oil prices, was off 36 cents at $67.29 a barrel by 1042 GMT after falling 92 cents on Thursday. U.S. crude was unchanged at $65.06.
"Certainly the improvement of the Iran situation is one of the factors that has helped put some pressure on oil," said Tetsu Emori, chief strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures Ltd.
A dispute between the West and Iran over its nuclear program has dragged on for nearly a year, keeping oil prices supported as investors anticipate possible supply disruptions.
But the market softened on Thursday after Larijani said Tehran and the EU -- due to meet again in two weeks' time -- were nearing "a united view" and that new ideas had been raised to break an impass.
(Reuters, 27/04/2006)