March 31, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1428

LONDON, March 30: Oil extended a nearly two-week rally on Friday amid escalating tensions over Iran’s capture of British military personnel and worries over US gasoline supplies ahead of summer driving season.

US crude rose 14 cents to $66.17 a barrel by 1650 GMT, after rising 3 per cent to a six-month closing high the previous session. Prices have risen about 12 per cent since March 19.

London Brent rose 45 cents at $67.92 a barrel. Earlier in the session, the European benchmark rose briefly above $69 for the first time since September 2006.

“We had a very strong rally on Thursday and for the last 10 days, so there is some profit-taking,” said Olivier Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix. “The market is driven by Iran and can go up or down easily by 50 cents depending upon the next headline.”

The Iran tensions come as energy traders eye dwindling stockpiles of gasoline in the United States leading into the summer driving season.

US gasolines supplies have fallen about 7.5 per cent since early February, due in part to slow production from refiners undergoing seasonal maintenance.

A strike, in its 17th day, at the French Mediterranean oil terminal Fos-Lavera, the world's third-largest port for refined oil products, is also endangering refinery operations and gasoline exports to the United States.

Utility Gaz de France and striking workers failed to thrash out a compromise on Thursday.

—Reuters