Oil hits six-month high above US$60

LONDON – Oil rose to a fresh six month high above US$60 a barrel yesterday 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 struck US$60,48 a barrel, the highest level since mid-November, and it was trading US$1,02 up at US$60,05 yesterday morning ahead of its expiry later in the day. The more actively traded July contract hit as high as US$60,99.On Monday, US crude rose more than US$1 to US$60,21, the highest settlement price since November.North Sea Brent for July also struck its six month high of US$59,65 and it was trading 98 cents up at US$59,45.Oil prices have been in an up-trend since mid-April. They also have recovered from below US$33 in December last year after a plunge from record highs above US$147 in July.’It is a combination of factors of what we have had and concerns over supply, which is adding risk premium to the market,’ Oliver Jakob with Petromatrix said. ‘In the past few weeks, oil traded in a strong correlation with the equity market without looking much at fundamentals. Yesterday (Monday), support also came from supply disruption after Sunoco’s refinery fire, which affected gasoline output, and concerns over Nigeria.’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.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 United States, an explosion disrupted output at Sunoco’s refinery in Pennsylvania.Stocks in Europe were extending gains yesterday. Asian shares hit their seven month high. -Nampa-Reuter