Oil prices soared toward this week’s record peaks 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 2.46 dollars to close at 118.52 dollars a barrel.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for June rose 2.00 dollars to settle at 116.34 dollars a barrel, after crossing 117 dollars for the first time to hit a record intraday peak of 117.56 dollars.
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,” said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
“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 Friday ahead of a strike over pensions.
The Grangemouth plant, west of Edinburgh in Scotland, 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 Saturday.
The pipeline cannot function without electricity and steam generated by Grangemouth.
“A potential strike at Grangemouth refinery in Scotland should help to underpin the market in the near term,” said Kryuchenkov.
“The 48-hour planned shut-down is scheduled to start on Saturday and market participants fear that BP could be forced to stop pumping around 700,000 barrel a day through the Forties pipeline system, as the pipeline relies on power from Grangemouth.”
The industrial action has sparked widespread concerns over potential shortages of motor fuel in Britain.
Restoring the Grangemouth facility to full operating capacity following the strike was estimated to take up to two weeks.