Oil prices rose on Friday as a general strike looming in Nigeria next week threatened to disrupt the African country's oil supplies.
US light crude was up US$0.43 at US$29.44 a barrel, rebounding from steep falls on Thursday when a big rise in natural gas stocks eased concern about tight US energy supply. Brent crude in London rose US$0.53 to US$27.57.
Prices rose as Nigerian labor leaders vowed to bring the country to a standstill next week after the government suffered defeat in its bid to halt a planned general strike over fuel price increases.
"Everything will come to a standstill," Joseph Akinlaja, vice-president of the umbrella Nigeria Labor Congress said.
"There will be no fuel, no markets, nothing," he said.
Africa's largest producer, Nigeria is one of the top six suppliers to the US, sending more than 750,000 barrels per day of crude in the first three months of this year.
The Nigerian government will be eager to avoid another disruption to its oil supplies after March's pre-election violence which shut in more than 800,000 barrels per day of production, analysts said.
While Nigeria's blue-collar NUPENG oil union says it expects the strike to halt oil shipments, the senior oil workers union PENGASSAN, which has more influence over oil exports, has taken a softer line.
"If significant volumes are affected as the result of the strike, the government will move quickly to find a political solution -- even more so if the strike induces instability in the oil-producing Delta," said analysts PFC Energy in a report.
March's disruption in Nigeria, combined with an earlier strike in Venezuela and a three-month halt to Iraq's crude exports, have prevented US crude inventories from rising far above 26-year lows hit earlier this year.
Crude stocks are 11 percent below last year after the government reported a sharp fall last week.
Concern over tight US supplies across the energy sector eased a little on Thursday when the government reported a record rise in natural gas stocks. Rising supply has pushed natural gas prices down 18 percent in the last three weeks.
US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the rise in natural gas stocks was a good signal, but he was still concerned about tight inventories reaching normal levels by the winter heating season.
Delays in the resumption of Iraq's exports following the US-led invasion has underpinned oil prices which are up nearly 10 percent from this time last year.
Baghdad pushed out its first post-Saddam exports this week, selling crude oil that had been stored pre-war, but looting and sabotage will keep Iraq's exports below prewar levels of 1.7 million barrels per day for months.
On Thursday, a pipeline to the Baiji refinery in the north of the country was on fire after an explosion -- the sixth explosion to rip open an Iraqi pipeline in two weeks.
Adel al-Kazaz, director-general of Iraq's North Oil Co, said Iraq might miss its mid-July target for restarting a key crude pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast unless urgent repairs are made to the line.
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