may come under pressure...

NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - World oil prices dropped on
Wednesday after U.S. data showed heavy imports had boosted
inventories to their highest level in 19 months, and as market
skepticism limited the impact OPEC's announcement it will act
on previously agreed output curbs.
U.S. light crude ended down 49 cents a barrel at $35.76,
recovering after falling as much as 3.9 percent to $34.85
earlier in the session, shortly after the inventory data.
London Brent ended 94 cents down at $31.51 a barrel.
Figures from the U.S. government's Energy Information
Administration showed commercial crude stocks rising 5.7
million barrels last week to 294.3 million, the highest level
since August 2002.
The EIA said strong imports last week from Saudi Arabia,
the world's top producer, swelled the inventory, but even with
the rise U.S. stocks are still nearly 16.1 million barrels less
than the five-year average for this time of the year.
Stocks of gasoline also rose 1.4 million barrels to sit
above year-ago levels at 200.9 million barrels, steepening
losses in gasoline futures that had earlier in the day hit a
record high after news of a refinery fire.
The crude and gasoline builds relaxed fears of summer
supply tightness, which have brought the NYMEX light crude
futures price up 7 percent since the OPEC producer group agreed
in February to trim its supply to 23.5 million barrels per
day.
OPEC ministers in Vienna cast off earlier wrangling over
whether to delay that cut, intended to take effect April 1, and
forged ahead with their decision to trim 1 million barrels per
day from global crude supplies.
However, traders said they doubted the cartel would be able
to implement the measure, and that the crude and gasoline
builds were driving the market lower.
"These numbers are clearly negative. We got a larger than
expected build in a market that was already vulnerable. The
OPEC news was priced in and, once they made it official, the
market started struggling, and the data pushed it over the
edge," said Tom Bentz of BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.
Prices also lost steam after oil major BP Plc said its
Texas refinery was running almost normally after a fire late on
Tuesday. News of the fire had helped U.S. gasoline futures jump
to an all-time high at $1.1770 a gallon in early trade.
OPEC has based the rationale for its cut on a seasonal drop
in demand after the Northern Hemisphere winter, which would
threaten prices. It also said it would adhere to the agreed
cuts.
The United States and other consuming nations, worried that
sky-high oil prices could hurt the economy, had urged OPEC to
raise output. The International Energy Agency also said on
Wednesday it was worried about OPEC's supply curbs.
A senior Bush Administration official said that White House
officials had spoken to leaders of Kuwait and the United Arab
Emirates on Wednesday to recommend that the group delay the
output restrictions to allow oil prices to cool.
Initial crude loading schedules however indicate that
actual supply cuts in April are likely to be just about
one-third of what the cartel plans and analysts say that at
such high prices it will be difficult for cartel members to
adhere to their quotas.
A Reuters survey showed last week that not more than
335,000 bpd were likely to be cut in April. The cartel meets
again in June to adjust output policy if needed.
((Writing by Abi Sekimitsu; editing by Eric Walsh;
Reuters Messaging: [email protected], +1
646 382 6051))