Crude oil prices surge by more than 4.5%

19 May 2009

Crude oil prices climbed by more than 4.5 per cent on Monday as the market recovered from heavy losses towards the end of last week.

Home heating oil customers saw values drop back towards $56 (£36) a barrel on Friday after a week in which the Energy Information Administration, Opec and the International Energy Agency all revised down their oil demand forecasts for 2009.

However, the market recovered to reach new six-month highs on Monday after violence in Nigeria - one of the world's top oil producers - and a fire at a major US refinery brought new concern about supplies.

Nigeria's main militant group said it would block shipping channels used by the oil industry and claimed to have blown up two oil and gas pipelines in the country in a bid to disrupt energy exports.

This unrest, along with an explosion at the 178,000-barrel-a-day Sunoco oil refinery in the US, helped bolster the price of crude oil.

US crude climbed to $59.03 a barrel, up $2.69, while London Brent crude rose $2.49 to settle at $58.47.

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