Reply #7: Oil steady near $125 on Gulf of Mexico storm

[ozymandius]

Oil prices were steady near $125 a barrel Monday as the market kept on eye on a tropical storm that could affect oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Concerns that a showdown over Iran's nuclear program could threaten crude supplies out of the Middle East also buoyed up prices.

By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 7 cents to $125.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.02 on Friday to settle at $125.10 a barrel.

In London, September Brent crude was up 29 cents at $124.47 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch Sunday for the coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas, which means that hurricane conditions are possible from Tropical Storm Edouard within the next 24 hours in the area.

The fifth named storm of the 2008 hurricane season has sustained maximum winds of about 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour. By Sunday night, Edouard was located about 80 miles (129 kilometers) east-southeast off the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 390 miles (630 kilometers) east of Galveston, Texas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices