Oil dips below $75 a barrel today, although concerns about a prolonged cut in Nigerian oil output and violence in the Middle East are expected to limit selling.
London Brent crude fell 11 cents to $74.90 a barrel, and US light sweet crude dropped 13 cents to $74.41 a barrel by 9.46am.
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer, said last night the company did not expect production closed off in Nigeria to make a significant recovery this year.
Shell is losing 653,000 barrels per day (bpd) of the output it operates in Nigeria, most of it because of militant attacks.
Chevron has also reduced exports by 43,000 bpd. The total amounts to around a quarter of production from the world's eighth biggest exporter.
Today's gains added to a rise of more than a dollar yesterday for Brent, which has reacted more strongly than US crude to the concern about Nigeria.
Traders and analysts said that over the past days Nigeria has been a bigger factor for the market than violence in Lebanon, although nagging fears the conflict could draw in some Middle East oil producers have kept the market on edge.