Oil rose to a new six-month high above $60 a barrel this afternoon as unrest in key producer Nigeria and a US refinery outage kindled concerns over oil fundamentals after weeks of equity-led rallies.
US crude for June earlier struck $60.48 a barrel, the highest since mid-November. By 11.40am it had trimmed gains, trading 73 cents up at $59.76 ahead of its expiry. The more actively traded July contract rose as high as $60.99.
Yesterday, US crude rose more than $1 to $60.21, the highest settlement price since November.
North Sea Brent for July also struck a six-month high of $59.65 and was trading 44 cents up at $58.91. Oil prices have been on an upward trend since mid-April, and have recovered from below $33 in December last year after a plunge from record highs above $147 in July.
Key African and OPEC producer Nigeria has long suffered from losing part of its oil output and missing export obligations due to insecurity in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
The main militant group said on Monday it would blockade key waterways in the delta to try to prevent crude oil exports after days of military helicopter and gunboat raids on its camps.
In the world's top consumer the United States, an explosion disrupted output at Sunoco's refinery in Pennsylvania, pushing US RBOB gasoline to a seven-month high ahead of the peak summer driving season.
Reuters