Oil prices soared toward this week’s record peaks on Friday as traders fretted over threats to global energy supplies in Nigeria and Britain, analysts said.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, surged US$2.46 to close at US$118.52 a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for June rose US$2 to settle at US$116.34 a barrel, after crossing US$117 for the first time to hit a record intraday peak of US$117.56.
Oil prices rocketed to historic highs this week as investors seized on mounting supply worries and the weak US currency, which makes dollar-priced crude cheaper for buyers using other currencies and tends to encourage demand.
In Nigeria on Friday, the most prominent armed group in the southern oil-producing region sabotaged a supply pipeline belonging to Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell.
“Crude futures recovered [on Friday] ... after news emerged that Nigerian rebels attacked a pipeline in the Niger Delta,” Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said. “The Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND] has once again announced that it sabotaged an oil facility belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, following a series of attacks started at the end of last week.”
In an e-mail to AFP, MEND said it had “successfully sabotaged a major crude oil pipeline located at Kula river in Rivers state of Nigeria operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company” on Thursday.
Several supply pipelines owned by Shell and Chevron have been destroyed in recent weeks.
Shell officials could not immediately confirm the latest attack.
On Tuesday, Shell announced a production loss of 169,000 barrels per day following earlier attacks on pipelines in the region.
Royal Dutch Shell, the largest oil operator in Nigeria, accounting for about half of the country’s 2.1 million-barrels-per-day output, has seen a wave of attacks on its facilities in recent months.
Violence in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria’s total production by a quarter in the past two years.
In Britain, one of the country’s biggest oil refineries shut down on Friday ahead of a strike over pensions. The Grangemouth plant west of Edinburgh was shut down by owners Ineos ahead of the planned strike action by its 1,200 workers on Sunday and Monday.
Energy giant BP also prepared to close the neighboring Forties pipeline, which brings in oil from the North Sea and delivers a third of Britain’s daily output. It was expected to make the closure decision yesterday.
The pipeline cannot function without electricity and steam generated by Grangemouth.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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