By Surabhi Sahu Oil prices slipped Tuesday as some traders booked profits after sharp gains Monday, when Brent and Nymex crude surged over $2 a barrel, reflecting concerns over the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict and hopes that the U.S. fiscal cliff might be resolved. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $89.08 a barrel at 0616 GMT, down $0.20 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.01 to $111.69 a barrel. Crude saw a "sell-off" Tuesday due to hopes of a truce between Israel and Palestine's Hamas as Egypt and the U.N. exchanged views Monday, urging an end to the conflict, Jonathan Barratt, chief economist at Barratt's Bulletin, said. However, hopes of the conflict ending anytime soon are dim, and this is supporting prices, he added. Oil prices may rise $3-$5 a barrel from current levels if the Israeli attack intensifies, he said. A downgrade in France's sovereign debt rating Monday also resulted in some selling, a Tokyo-based trader said, tipping support for Brent crude--from Mideast tensions--at $110 a barrel Tuesday. The energy complex had a lot going for it Monday as a "risk on" combined with a further injection of geopolitical premium sparked a brief price pop of almost 3%, Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note late Monday, adding that price advances on Tuesday need support from positive macroeconomic data. The U.S. will be digesting another dose of housing data Tuesday, Mr. Ritterbusch said. "Given Monday's better-than-expected existing home sales, we will look for surprises to skew bullish." A meeting of euro-zone finance ministers Tuesday regarding financial assistance to Greece could also impact the market, he said. Investors will also await U.S. oil-inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute later Tuesday and from the Energy Information Administration Wednesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday this week. Crude-oil inventories increased by 600,000 barrels in the week ended Friday, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts. Any deviations from analyst expectations will prompt market participants to adjust positions accordingly, traders said. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for December--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 73 points to $2.7472 a gallon, while December heating oil traded at $3.0756, 5 points higher. ICE gasoil for December changed hands at $953.75 a metric ton, up $1.75 from Monday's settlement. Jerry A. DiColo contributed to this article. Write to Surabhi Sahu at surabhi.sahu@dowjones.com

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