INTERVIEW-Conoco expects "reasonable" refining margins

* Expects reasonable refining margins in near term

* Margins won't return to record levels of recent years

* Sees possible Venezuela settlement in '08

By Haitham Haddadin

NEW ORLEANS, April 9 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips' (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva expects "reasonable" refining margins for the rest of the year, but does not expect to repeat the record profit margins experienced in recent years.

Margins to produce gasoline plummeted in late 2007 and early 2008 as refiners were unable to push through costs from soaring crude oil pries to customers.

"They have comeback somewhat to a more normalized" level in the United States, Mulva told Reuters on Tuesday.

"I think we are going to continue to see reasonable crack spreads but not as strong as what we have seen in the last several years," he said, noting that they would be "better than what we have experienced historically over the past 10 years."

"But this is always impacted by interruptions (in refinery operations) and the weather and seasonal effects," he said.