Oil prices rise but struggle to hit $ 35

LONDON: Oil prices rose on Friday but struggled to hit 35 dollars a barrel in New York as large US energy stockpiles capped gains across the Atlantic, traders said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, advanced 78 cents to 34.76 dollars a barrel after risking again touching a five-year low of 32.20 dollars reached on December 18.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April climbed 26 cents to 46.29 dollars a barrel in London. Brent's March contract expired on Thursday.

The price differential between New York crude and London Brent oil also hit a new record, exceeding 11 dollars on Friday, which analysts attributed to soaring energy stockpiles in the United States.

The New York price "has been distorted by the building of inventories, particularly in Cushing," said David Moore, commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Cushing, Oklahoma is the delivery point for crude traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex).

The worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s has hurt energy demand and pulled prices down from record highs of above 147 dollars for Brent and New York crude reached last July.

"The current calamity is as real as real gets," said Mike Fitzpatrick of MF Global. "In some quarters it is even being characterised as a depression."

Against the current economic backdrop, "30-dollar oil now seems realistic," he said.

It will take at least two years for crude prices to recover to 70-75 dollars a barrel, Falah al-Amiri, who heads Iraq's oil marketing body, said Thursday.