...Oil prices were well underpinned by a potential storm forming in the Atlantic which re-ignited fears that supply from Gulf of Mexico oil installations could be squeezed.

"Its calculated path still takes it to the eastern Caribbean, an area favourable for strengthening and historically a highway to the US or Mexican Gulf," said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.


A weekly US inventory report released earlier this week lent some support to oil futures. The data showed that gasoline supplies remain well below average and that crude fell by more than the market had expected.

"The situation in gasoline looks particularly alarming," Barclays Capital analysts said Friday. "Demand has remained relentlessly strong, whereas production and imports have failed to keep up with growth in demand in the absence of the necessary price signals."