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Oil prices flat in Asian trade after Nigeria hostages freed
AFP
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld.com 03 28 06Oil prices were flat in Asian trade Tuesday as concerns over Nigerian output eased after separatist rebels there released oil workers they had been holding hostage, dealers said.
At 10:50 am (0250 GMT) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was down two cents at 64.14 dollars a barrel from 64.16 dollars a barrel in the United States on Monday.
"After the hostages were released, it kind of eased some of the tension," said Tony Nunan, an energy risk manager for Mitsubishi Corp.
Nigerian separatist guerrillas freed two Americans and a Briton after holding them hostage for more than a month.
The men were among a group of nine foreign workers kidnapped on February 18 by heavily-armed militants fighting for control of the Niger delta's oil resources. The other six men were released after a week.
Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, has seen output cut by more than 20 percent as a result of attacks on oil installations in the delta.
Nunan said that the release of the hostages does not solve the long-term problem of instability in the region as the rebels are fightin against the government and oil companies rather than the oil workers.
"Releasing them doesn't mean they have stopped the violence against oil installations but it has calmed things down a little bit," he said.
The continuing threat against supply in Nigeria is "very much real and in the background," said Nunan.
Another supply concern was the ongoing dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.
Members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday held informal talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis but again failed to break the impasse over a draft statement demanding a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment activities.
Iran, the second-largest producer of crude in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has said that any attempt to impose UN sanctions could be met with a cut in its crude supply.
AFP 28 03 06 03 31 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
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