August 3, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 4, 1424

NEW YORK, Aug 2: Oil prices put on a late surge Friday in anxious pre-weekend trade, marked by supply fears and yet another pipeline sabotage in Iraq, analysts said.

New York’s benchmark light sweet crude contract for delivery in September leapt $1.77 to $32.31 a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude oil for September delivery was up $1.53 at $29.90.

“First we had reports of reduced output from Nigeria, then there are worries about a Venezuelan refinery and also reports of a pipeline being hit again,” said Refco analyst Jim Still.

Supplies were tight, a return of Iraqi oil appeared far off, and the jitters triggered a wave of buying by traders who had bet heavily on an imminent decline in prices, he said.

Fears were raised after saboteurs blew up part of a key oil pipeline in northern Iraq on Thursday night.

The blaze in the northern refinery hub of Baiji, still seen raging on Friday, is another blow to US plans to resuscitate Iraq’s massive but crippled energy sector.

“We have seen the same strong close every Friday for the past few weeks,” said Barclays Capital analyst Orin Middleton in London.

“The market doesn’t want to be short ahead of the weekend, given the political uncertainty in Iraq and other countries,” he said.

“If we come through the weekend unscathed, we will go down early Monday morning.”

A meeting of ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in Vienna on Thursday had opted to keep crude production unchanged.

The gathering had been called amid Opec fears that the return of Iraqi crude to world markets following the end of the war to unseat Saddam Hussein could send prices plunging.

However production in Iraq has been slow to resume, hit by dilapidated infrastructure and looting, as well as the poor security situation.—AFP