October 28, 2006	Saturday	Shawwal 4, 1427

LONDON, Oct 27: World crude prices firmed on Friday after news of a potential terrorist threat to installations in Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, traders said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, rose 19 cents to $60.55 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery added two cents to $60.79 per barrel in electronic deals.Prices spiked following news of a possible terrorist threat to Saudi Arabia because the kingdom is the world's top oil exporter and operates the largest oil terminal at Ras Tannura in the Gulf.

“All of us immediately looked up when we heard the news, but we also got reassuring news from the navy that at least they are covering the water approaches,” said Societe General analyst Deborah White.

“The biggest danger is at sea, because you can come from so many different directions and you can have a relatively small boat that could be carrying a relatively large bomb.

White added: “But if in fact they have taken the normal attack-at-sea precautions then they are probably safe, which is why it was only a momentary blip” in oil prices.

Crude futures had traded in negative territory for much of Friday as worries over output eased in major oil producers Norway and Nigeria.

Both New York and London Brent contracts closed down more than a dollar on Thursday due to profit-taking. That came after crude prices had jumped more than two dollars on Wednesday owing to renewed supply concerns as US heating stocks are falling ahead of the northern hemisphere winter.

On Friday meanwhile, Norway’s leading oil company Statoil resumed production at its Snorre A platform in the North Sea after a two-week halt caused by safety problems. Norway is the world's third biggest exporter of oil.

And in Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer of oil, protesting youths left three flow-stations of the Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell on Thursday that they had occupied since Tuesday.—AFP