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World oil prices climb after new attack in Nigeria
By Perrine Faye
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 11 26 06World oil prices climbed Friday on reports that Italian oil major ENI was reducing Nigerian exports in the wake of a separatist attack.
In New York, a barrel of light sweet crude for January delivery rose 52 cents to 59.76 dollars in electronic trading at 1730 GMT.
In London, Brent North Sea crude contracts for January delivery climbed 69 cents to 60.04 dollars.
The market in the United States remained closed Friday for a second day because of the Thanksgiving holiday, which tended to accentuate movements.
Eni said it was incapable of guaranteeing all of its deliveries from the Okono field off Nigeria, which was attacked by separatists, according to media reports cited by analysts. Some 60,000 barrels per day were affected.
Kevin Norrish, analyst at Barclays Capital, said "it's a bit of a stretch to pin the whole of the move on that, but that's the main piece of news today."
Nigeria is the top oil exporter from Africa and the sixth biggest in the world. Frequent attacks by separatists in the Niger Delta, in the south of the country, have cut daily production by 25 percent.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday warned "bandits" in the restive delta against lawlessness and assured the international community that his government would not abandon the region to brigands.
Analysts meanwhile said large stockpiles in the United States curbed price increases.
"The market is a little lackluster. It seems to be under a little bit of pressure still as there's no shortage of wet barrels around, that's for sure," said Robert Laughlin, a broker at Man Financial.
"I think for the time being the sentiment is that generally we're looking to have another little test on the downside towards 55 dollars," he said.
Prices have also been under pressure since the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that crude oil stocks rose by 5.1 million barrels last week to total 341.1 million -- well above average levels.
The market expected a gain of around 600,000 barrels.
The surprise hike in gasoline stockpiles also eased prices as millions of Americans took to the road for the long Thansgiving weekend.
On Thursday, prices weakened further as better weather in Alaska allowed tankers to resume loading oil at the Valdez export terminal, which had been closed since Monday.
The bad weather had cut flow through the Trans Alaska Pipeline by up to 35 percent.
"Further weakness yesterday came from news that the Trans Alaska Pipeline is now running at half the normal 800,000 bpd (barrels per day) throughput thanks to improving weather conditions," according to Sucden analyst Michael Davies.
Temperatures in the northeastern United States, which consumes the most heating oil in the world, are expected to be above normal until December 4, but they could drop afterward, forecasters there said.
"Despite the bearish sentiment on the market at the moment, the risks to the upside remain from cold weather and also from the potential for another OPEC supply cut when the group meets again next month," Davies said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which exports 40 percent of the world's crude, pledged to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day starting November 1 in a bid to shore up prices, which have shed nearly 20 dollars since August.
However, until now the market has been skeptical about how seriously the cartel will implement the decision, with most analysts expecting a reduction of only about 600,000 barrels a day.
OPEC meets in Nigeria on December 14 and could again cut supply.
AFP 24 1923 GMT 11 06
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