Oil held firm near $75 today as dealers remained nervous over tensions in the Middle East and a jump in natural gas prices after heat waves in the United States and Europe.
US light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 6 cents to $74.46 a barrel earlier this morning, extending a gain of $1.16 yesterday.
London ICE Brent crude shed 5 cents at $75.10 a barrel, having widened its premium to US crude on fears that a small pipeline leak on a branch of Russia's biggest oil pipeline to Europe could curtail supplies.
Russian officials said later that deliveries to Europe via the main line were unaffected by the spill.
The conflict in Lebanon, as well as the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, has kept traders worried over exports from the region, which pumps a third of the world's crude.
A more-than-14 per cent surge in US natural gas prices yesterday following several nuclear plant outages and a nationwide heatwave.
September natural gas futures soared to their highest since April and gained another 0.47 per cent this morning.