Crude oil prices crossed $116 a barrel in New York for the first time on Friday after a pipeline attack in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, shot up to $116,10 at about 3.20pm GMT, then eased back to $115,46.
The New York benchmark contract closed at $114,86 a barrel Thursday.
The most prominent militant group in Nigeria’s southern oil-producing region said on Friday it had sabotaged a major oil supply pipeline belonging to Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that it had carried out the sabotage operation late on Thursday in Rivers state.
The group also promised “many more” similar attacks to follow. — AFP