Oil prices were knocked lower Friday as the market paused from its staggering three-week rally for a bout of profit-taking.
"This market's been going straight up for so long and it tends to overextend itself. Some people are also selling on the prospect of an OPEC meeting," said one trader. But most analysts said OPEC ministers meeting informally in Vienna Sunday will have problems agreeing on boosting output.West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, finished down a steep $1.02 at $30.91 a barrel for October delivery. New York unleaded gasoline for September ended down 3.89 cents at $1.0466 a gallon.
On Thursday, world oil prices finished at their highest levels in more than seven years. Just days earlier, on Monday, gasoline futures finished at record highs since they began trading in 1984.
In the present jittery market, which is trading on emotions more than on fundamentals, any major news can kick off a quantum shift in prices.
Oil traders say war in the Middle East would mean $50 a barrel for crude.
But if the Gulf crisis caused by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is resolved, the market will scurry back to pre-invasion levels, they say.