Oil pares gains on profit-taking

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Crude turned down Thursday morning after a brief rally on continued refinery and production troubles amid a persistently bullish climate.

NYMEX Crude for September delivery fell 10 cents to $75.20 after rising 34 cents earlier.

An electrical outage hobbled production at a field in Angola, slashing production from 248,000 barrels to an expected 120,000, pushing up the price of crude to test the $76 mark and setting the stage for a short-lived morning rally.

A report on China's strong economy added to the mix, before the price of crude pulled back by about 11:15 am ET.

"Now we're seeing people taking profits," said David Beavers, energies trading broker at Chicago-based Alaron Trading.

Beavers expects some more selling off in the session. "But big funds are still buying during the dips," he said.

A generally bullish mood remains.

"There's a bullish mind set that's becoming institutionalized," said Antoine Halff, head of energy research with Fimat.

Halff cites continued production problems in the North Sea, Norway's announcement of its lowest production level since 1994 and continuing unrest in Nigeria.

"Short term fundamentals are pushing prices up," Halff said who added OPEC production expansion projects are behind expectations. "Demand for refineries is running ahead of production growth."