U.S. crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Thursday as a Wall Street rally and strong gasoline futures helped lift crude above $67 a barrel. NYMEX natural gas futures, up early on short covering ahead of weekly government storage data, turned lower later after a neutral report was released, pressured by mild U.S. weather forecasts, record high storage and slumping industrial demand.

IN FOCUS:

Nigeria is expected to export slightly lower volumes of its two benchmark crude oil grades Qua Iboe and Bonny Light in September, traders said on Thursday. Preliminary schedules show 11 Qua Iboe cargoes, or around 348,000 barrels per day (bpd) loading in September, down from 12 cargoes, or 368,000 bpd in August.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration report showed that total domestic gas inventories climbed to 2.952 trillion cubic feet, still a record high for this time of year. Inventories now stand at 568 billion cubic feet, or 24 percent, above last year and 458 bcf, or 18 percent, above the five-year average.

South Korea's POSCO and SK Energy will cooperate to develop synthetic natrual gas from low-cost coal to replace annual imports of 200 billion won of liquefied natural gas (LNG), POSCO said on Friday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Thursday it did not expect any tropical development during the next 48 hours.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK:

We recommend to book profits in crude oil as prices are running ahead of fundamentals. We may see a bout of profit taking in crude oil. Natural Gas may move sideways to down during the day.