Oil rises on news of Nigerian oil rig attack
Oil prices rose in Asia on news that a Nigerian militant group attacked an oil installation on Thursday.
By Agencies |
SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose in Asia on news that a Nigerian militant group attacked an oil installation on Thursday, raising concerns about possible supply outages in Africa's largest oil producer.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery was up 23 cents to US$136.91 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract on Wednesday rose US$2.67 to settle at US$136.68 a barrel.
A leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta told that militant fighters in open-hulled boats traveled through heavy seas to attack the Bonga oil field more than 65 miles (100 kilometers) from land.
But they were not able to enter a computer control room that they had hoped to destroy.
A Royal Dutch Shell spokesman confirmed an attack, but gave no details. He said production had been stopped from the field, which normally produces about 200,000 barrels of crude per day.
The news overshadowed worries about the threat of a strike by Nigerian white-collar oil workers.
Crude futures had climbed more than US$2 a barrel on Wednesday on reports that Nigerian oil workers were about to strike after talks between U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. and the country's white-collar oil industry workers had broken down.
Crude futures had fallen in earlier trading on Thursday on a media report that the strike had been averted.
Nigeria's oil ministry persuaded Chevron to remove 70 expatriates from its work force, Reuters cited an oil ministry spokesman as saying.
A senior oil workers' union had complained that Chevron had too many foreign staff, the report said.
Traders were also digesting a mixed weekly inventory report from the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.
``There was a smaller-than-expected drop in crude supplies and a reasonably healthy rise in distillates,'' said Mark Pervan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.
The EIA report said crude oil supplies fell 1.2 mn barrels last week, less than the 2 mn barrel decline expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts, and inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose 2.6 mn barrels more than expected.
Gasoline supplies fell 1.2 mn barrels last week, where analysts were expecting an increase of nearly 1 mn barrels. However, the EIA also said demand for gasoline is down 1.8 pc, on average, over the last four weeks compared to last year.
Prices were also being pulled downward by expectations of production increases from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer.
The Saudis are planning a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations in Jeddah on Sunday to seek ways to tackle soaring oil prices.
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia reportedly told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it would increase oil output by 200,000 barrels a day, or by 2 pc, from June to July. In May, the country raised production by 300,000 barrels a day.
``The market would be skewed towards seeing lower prices on the basis that OPEC is trying to manufacture some announcement to cool the market,'' Pervan said.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures lost 0.89 cent to US$3.4578 a gallon (3.8 liters) while heating oil prices fell 1.55 cents to US$3.8445 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 7.6 cents to US$13.286 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 43 cents to US$136.88 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery was up 23 cents to US$136.91 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract on Wednesday rose US$2.67 to settle at US$136.68 a barrel.
A leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta told that militant fighters in open-hulled boats traveled through heavy seas to attack the Bonga oil field more than 65 miles (100 kilometers) from land.
But they were not able to enter a computer control room that they had hoped to destroy.
A Royal Dutch Shell spokesman confirmed an attack, but gave no details. He said production had been stopped from the field, which normally produces about 200,000 barrels of crude per day.
The news overshadowed worries about the threat of a strike by Nigerian white-collar oil workers.
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Crude futures had climbed more than US$2 a barrel on Wednesday on reports that Nigerian oil workers were about to strike after talks between U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. and the country's white-collar oil industry workers had broken down.
Crude futures had fallen in earlier trading on Thursday on a media report that the strike had been averted.
Nigeria's oil ministry persuaded Chevron to remove 70 expatriates from its work force, Reuters cited an oil ministry spokesman as saying.
A senior oil workers' union had complained that Chevron had too many foreign staff, the report said.
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Traders were also digesting a mixed weekly inventory report from the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.
``There was a smaller-than-expected drop in crude supplies and a reasonably healthy rise in distillates,'' said Mark Pervan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.
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The EIA report said crude oil supplies fell 1.2 mn barrels last week, less than the 2 mn barrel decline expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts, and inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose 2.6 mn barrels more than expected.
Gasoline supplies fell 1.2 mn barrels last week, where analysts were expecting an increase of nearly 1 mn barrels. However, the EIA also said demand for gasoline is down 1.8 pc, on average, over the last four weeks compared to last year.
Prices were also being pulled downward by expectations of production increases from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer.
The Saudis are planning a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations in Jeddah on Sunday to seek ways to tackle soaring oil prices.
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia reportedly told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it would increase oil output by 200,000 barrels a day, or by 2 pc, from June to July. In May, the country raised production by 300,000 barrels a day.
``The market would be skewed towards seeing lower prices on the basis that OPEC is trying to manufacture some announcement to cool the market,'' Pervan said.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures lost 0.89 cent to US$3.4578 a gallon (3.8 liters) while heating oil prices fell 1.55 cents to US$3.8445 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 7.6 cents to US$13.286 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 43 cents to US$136.88 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
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