LONDON (Dow Jones)--ICE Brent crude oil futures rose over $1 a barrel Monday in London after a militant attack on a Nigerian pipeline renewed concerns over the country's oil supply. But the market remained sluggish as public holidays in the U.K. and U.S. sidelined many participants. At 1431 GMT, the front-month July Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up $0.98 at $132.55 a barrel after earlier hitting an intraday high of $133.12 a barrel. The front-month July contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading up $0.69 cents at $132.88 a barrel.
The ICE's gasoil contract for June delivery was down $3.50 at $1,279.25 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for June delivery was up 182 points at 341.42 cents a gallon. Crude futures gained as Royal Dutch Shell PLC confirmed an attack on one of its pipelines in the key oil-producing Niger Delta and said some production had been stopped to contain an oil spill. The company didn't specify the extent of the outage.
"SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Corporation) can confirm an attack on the Nembe Creek trunk line at Awoba," a spokesman told AFP. Earlier Monday, a Nigerian militant group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it had destroyed an oil pipeline and killed 11 soldiers in an ensuing gunbattle.
The pipeline was operated by a Shell joint venture, MEND said. "We will need to see what comes out of the latest attack in Nigeria," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of Swiss-based consultancy Petromatrix. In the absence of other news, worries over Nigerian oil production helped boost crude prices. "In this illiquid market, the Nigerian news certainly pushed it higher," said an energy broker based in London.
Looking ahead, participants expected trade to remain choppy Monday. "Over the past couple of days the activity seems to be pointing to a sideways move ranging between $130 a barrel and $133.74 a barrel (on ICE Brent) in today's trade," said Andy Riddell, an energy broker at ODL Securities.
He said short-, medium- and long-term technical chart trends remained intact for crude. "It's going to be very volatile...even if it came back $20 (prices) would still be expensive," said Tony Machacek, energy broker at Bache Commodities in London.
Separately, the United Arab Emirates' oil minister said earlier that the oil market is amply supplied, echoing comments from other OPEC members. "We as an OPEC member...will be happy to supply more if the markets need. But at the moment the market is well supplied," Mohammed Al-Hamli said on the sidelines of a conference in Seoul.
-By Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20-7842-9479; lananh.nguyen@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires