FINANCIAL TIMES: Oil prices rose on Friday to $75 a barrel for the first time since August on renewed unrest in Nigeria’s delta oil producing region.
Low US petrol inventories and strong summer demand also contributed to the bullish sentiment.
Analysts said further price increases were likely as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the group thought to be responsible for most of the attacks in the region, called off this week a one-month truce. Attacks by militants had cut about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s oil production.
Shell, Nigeria’s largest foreign oil producer, said recently that it would not re-start its production in a key sector of the delta region for the rest of 2007 as security concerns persist. Oil hits 11-month high of $75 (more) By Javier Blas in London
Mark Alexander
