LONDON, July 6: Brent North Sea crude oil climbed past $76 per barrel for the first time in almost a year on Friday, fuelled higher by unrest in Nigeria and concerns over tight US gasoline supplies.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery touched $76.01 per barrel, a level last reached on August 11, 2006.New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, hit $72.94 -- the highest level since August 25.

In southern Nigeria, gunmen who kidnapped a three-year-old British girl have threatened to kill her -- unless her father takes her place, her mother said on Friday, as unrest continued to blight Africa’s biggest crude producer.

Prices have also found support after the US Department of Energy revealed on Thursday that American gasoline or petrol reserves were about 4.2 per cent below their level at the same time last year.

BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian said fresh violence in Nigeria has been bullish for prices because Nigerian crude has a high gasoline content.

“If you look at what is happening in the US right now, you see that gasoline inventories are relatively low, and refineries there are having trouble coming of maintenance because of unplanned outages.

“So it’s a low gasoline situation, and you are also removing from the market crudes which have a high gasoline content, so people are going to turn to the next alternative -- and that’s Brent.”

In London later Friday, Brent North Sea crude for August delivery showed a gain of 81 cents at $75.56 per barrel in electronic deals.

New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, stood $1.09 higher at $72.90 in US floor trading.

The Brent oil price is now just a few dollars off its record high of $78.64 per barrel, struck at the start of August 2006. But New York crude has some ground to cover before reaching its historic peak of $78.40 per barrel, set in mid-July 2006.

“What is key is the fact that you don’t have that much spare crude production capacity in the system,” Tchilinguirian added.

“Any further geopolitical event that comes close to impacting supplies is going to push the price higher.”

The United States is currently facing its peak-demand driving season as drivers take to the roads en masse for their holidays.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) had said on Thursday that American gasoline inventories jumped by 1.8 million barrels to 204.4 million barrels in the week ending June 29. That was more than triple market expectations for a gain of 500,000 barrels. Despite the gains, inventories remain below levels of a year earlier.

US crude oil stockpiles leapt by 3.1 million barrels to reach 354 million barrels last week, according to the DoE. The figure wrong-footed analysts who had forecast an average drop of 200,000 barrels.—AFP