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Oil prices mixed after Nigeria attack
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 12 08 06
World crude prices diverged Thursday as an attack on an oil installation in Nigeria, forecasts of warmer US weather and an OPEC meeting next week provided differing leads to traders.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, climbed 30 cents to close at 62.49 dollars a barrel.
But in London, Brent North Sea crude for January delivery fell 50 cents to settle at 62.57 dollars a barrel.
The market digested news out of Nigeria, where at least one person was killed and four foreigners -- three Italians and one Lebanese -- were kidnapped during an attack Thursday by armed assailants against an oil installation belonging to Italy's Agip.
A spokesman for Eni, Agip's Italian parent company, said the attack was at the Brass oilfield in the restive Niger Delta region.
Since January, militants seeking a larger share of the oil wealth for the Niger Delta's 14 million Ijaw people have been blamed for a spate of violent attacks on multinational oil firms and their personnel.
Nigeria, the world's sixth-biggest oil producer and the biggest in Africa, accounts for some 2.6 million barrels of crude in daily exports, but the recent unrest has cut output by a quarter.
Traders were also tracking weather reports for the US northeast, the world's largest energy-consuming region.
Meteorologists are predicting warmer than average temperatures in the region over the next week which should reduce demand for heating oil.
"Warmer weather in the US should steady the market for the next few sessions but bearish sentiment is currently being assuaged by the OPEC meeting on the 14th of this month," Bank of Ireland analyst Paul Harris said.
The 11-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel meets on December 14 in Nigeria.
In October, OPEC decided to reduce its output quota by 1.2 million barrels a day to stem falling prices, which have dropped from record highs above 78 dollars in July and August.
On Wednesday meanwhile, official data had shown that US energy inventories dropped in the week that ended December 1 as winter temperatures took hold in the US northeast.
"The market is in need of some fresh news to take prices higher and the latest Nigerian incident on its own apparently does not appear to be enough to support a move back over 64.0," Fimat analyst John Kilduff said.
"Lower highs over the last two sessions might even suggest the market is losing upside momentum, particularly with the mixed signals the (US) economy is sending," he said.
AFP 07 2030 GMT 12 06
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