95billion bPD is the oil reserve of the Iraqi Iranian joint oil fields

U.S. crude futures fell on Friday and were on track to finish down for the week as the unresolved debt-ceiling row in the United States and worries about the threat of spreading euro zone debt woes weighed on oil prices.

Despite the debt-limit fight in the U.S., the dollar climbed against abasket of currencies .DXY as the euro remained under pressure due to ongoing sovereign debt concerns.

A stronger dollar can pressure dollar-denominated oil prices by making oil more expensive for consumers using other currencies and attracting investors seeking stronger returns away from commodities.

Tropical Storm Don is moving toward South Texas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Some Gulf of Mexico producers has already shut some output and evacuated personnel on Thursday.

In addition to Don, a large tropical wave accompanied by a well-defined low pressure system, located about 1200 miles (1931 km) east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles, still has a medium, 30 percent, chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours, the NHC said

Investors awaited the initial estimate of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter.

The government is expected to report on Friday that the U.S. economy grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate, in the first estimate of the second quarter Gross Domestic Product, according to a Reuters survey. In the first
quarter, the economy grew at a tepid 1.9 percent. ]

Also on tap on Friday is the expiration of NYMEX August RBOB gasoline and heating oil contracts.

Thin trading volume also continued to be an element in the market, helping enable volatile price moves.

FUNDAMENTALS

 In the New York Mercantile Exchange, September crude CLU1 fell 62
cents, or 0.6 percent, to $96.82 a barrel by 8:18 a.m. EDT (1218 GMT),

trading from $96.61 to $97.39.A number of large Iraqi cargoes with up to 9 million barrels of Basra
crude are heading to Europe this and next month in a rare market
development, traders said. ]

*Japan June oil products sales down 2.7 percent. ]

MARKETS NEWS

* U.S. stock index futures fell after lawmakers in Washington delayed a
vote on a Republican proposal to raise the U.S. government’s debt limit.
[.N]

*

Gold retreated in the face of an advancing dollar as the euro slipped
on Moody’s threat to downgrade Spain’s credit rating. [GOL/] [FRX/]

*

World stocks hit a 1-1/2 week low, on track for their biggest weekly
loss since August 2010, as a Moody’s threat to downgrade Spain revived
fears the euro zone crisis is spreading, and investors eyed the looming
deadline for U.S. debt-limit talks.

IRNA said that 95billion bPD is the oil reserve of the Iraqi Iranian joint oil fields