October 19, 2002	Saturday	Sha'aban 12, 1423

LONDON, Oct 18: The price of oil eased here on Friday amid signs that the UN Security Council was nearing a compromise on Iraq.

Prices drew some support however from cold weather in the United States and Europe and a reluctance among traders to play the market ahead of the weekend in case of fresh terrorist attacks, analysts said.

Reference Brent crude oil for December delivery slipped to $27.65 a barrel in late trading here against $27.97 at the close of trading on Thursday.

In New York, benchmark light sweet crude November futures dipped 15 cents a barrel to $29.47 in early deals.

Analyst Lawrence Eagles at brokers GNI said the apparent UN compromise could be viewed as positive for prices because it left the door ajar to unilateral action by the United States against Iraq.

“We have previously argued that the risk of an oil price spike was higher if there was not an international coalition for action against Iraq.

Commerzbank analyst David Thomas said traders were nervous to be short of oil ahead of the weekend because of the threat of fresh terrorist attacks in the wake of the bomb on the Indonesian island of Bali.—AFP