Crude Oil Rises Above $117 as Attackers Cut Nigerian Supply

(Bloomberg) — Crude oil in New York rose to a record above $117 a barrel after attacks cut Nigerian output and the dollar dropped against the euro.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said today 169,000 barrels of oil a day was suspended because of attacks last week in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer. OPEC should help replenish oil inventories because prices are “too high,” International Energy Agency Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said today.


“We are clearly headed over $120 a barrel and we are targeting $125,” said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York. “The last thing we need is another supply disruption. The outage certainly adds to the bullish sentiment.”

Crude oil for May delivery rose 79 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $117.48 a barrel at 2:50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a record close. The futures reached an all-time high of $117.76 a barrel today and are up 85 percent from a year ago.

Brent crude for June settlement rose 51 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at a record $114.43 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract touched $114.86 today, an all-time high.

“This is a wild bull market,” said Phil Flynn, a senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “It’s getting harder and harder to stand in the way of this. As long as the dollar is weak investors are going to buy oil as a hedge.”

Bloomberg