Crude futures rose on Thursday as traders ignored United States government data showing growing supplies, focusing instead on Nigeria and other geopolitical threats to global oil supplies.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 41 cents to $62,38 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract rose 56 cents to settle at $61,97 a barrel.
April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures was up 42 cents at $62,87 a barrel.
Gasoline futures rose 0,46 cents to $1,6270 a gallon (3,8 litres), while heating oil inched up 0,83 cents to $1,7549 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4,7 cents to $6,780 per 1 000 cubic feet.
Crude oil prices continue to be supported by supply fears tied to threats such as Iran’s standoff with the international community over its nuclear programme and recent militant attacks on the oil industry in Nigeria.
On Wednesday, militants in Nigeria who kidnapped nine foreign oil workers on February 18 released six but held on to two Americans and one Briton. The militants also threatened new attacks aimed at cutting off all oil production in Nigeria.
Attacks on the oil industry in the Niger Delta had already shut down 455 000 barrels per day in crude production, nearly 20% of the country’s daily output of 2,5-million barrels per day.
In its weekly supply report released on Wednesday, the US Department of Energy said domestic oil inventories grew by 1,6-million barrels last week to 328,3-million barrels, or 9% above year-ago levels.
Gasoline inventories rose a modest 300 000 barrels to 225,9-million barrels, putting them marginally above year-ago levels.
The nation’s supply of distillate fuel, which includes diesel and heating oil, declined by 1,5-million barrels to 134,1-million barrels, or 14% higher than a year ago.
The president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said Wednesday he sees no problem with prices above $60 a barrel so long as the global economy continues to grow.
”A fair price is what the market can sustain,” said Edmund Daukoru, the Nigerian Oil Minister and the president of Opec.
However, when prices approach $70 a barrel ”everybody gets nervous”, said Daukoru, who is in Washington this week to meet with US administration officials.
Daukoru declined to speculate on whether the cartel would curtail production at its March 8 meeting in Vienna, but said he was concerned about an ”overhang” of supply. He said production would rise to four million barrels per day by 2008 and to 4,5-million barrels per day by 2010 — a level he estimated could be sustained for at least a decade. — Sapa-AP