July 8, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7,1424

LONDON, July 7: Oil prices rose in London but fell in New York on Monday amid confusion over whether a strike in Nigeria was any closer to being resolved, traders said.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for August delivery rose five cents a barrel to $27.68 in late trading here.

But in New York, where markets were closed for a holiday on Friday, the reference light sweet crude August contract fell 47 cents to $29.95 per barrel in early trading.

“The market is very much in the midst of the Nigerian problems,” said GNI-Man trader Robert Laughlin.

“One minute we believe that it is all over, and the next minute it resurrects itself,” he said.

“There is still a dispute between the union and the government, although to be fair, it is looking more and more like it is going to be resolved.”

Nigeria’s top labour leader said that union chiefs were to meet to discuss a new government offer on fuel prices that could bring an end to an eight-day-old general strike.

Strike leader Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), told reporters in Abuja that the body’s central working committee would convene on Monday evening to discuss the deal.

“The labour situation in Nigeria remains as a wild card in this market as the general strike enters its second week,” said Prudential Financial analyst Jim Ritterbusch.

“Thus far, the strike impact upon oil production/export activity has been limited but a continuation of the general strike could possibly curtail oil operations as the week progresses. Until the Nigerian strike situation is resolved, the crude futures will need to discount at least a 50-per cent probability of a restricted flow of Nigeria’s output of two million bpd (barrels per day),” he added.

On a less positive note for prices, Iraq is to put eight million barrels of crude up for tender to foreign oil companies by the end of July, a senior Iraqi official from the State Oil Marketing Organization said.

“Letters have been sent to the major petroleum oil players to invite them to tender bids for eight million barrels of crude extracted from the southern oilfields,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The tender relates to four shipments from the Al-Bakr terminal in the Gulf between July 10 and 31,” he added.—AFP