LONDON, June 10: Oil prices rose on Friday amid concerns about the potential impact of a tropical storm on production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and ahead of an Opec meeting next week.

Fresh worries about possible supply disruptions come as the International Energy Agency held steady its estimate for world oil demand in 2005.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, gained 47 cents to $54.75 per barrel in early deals.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in July added 21 cents to $54.01 per barrel.

“Prices keep bouncing around, they’re moving up and down from day to day,” Global Insight analyst Simon Wardell said.

Prices had surged almost $2 in New York on Thursday as Tropical storm Arlene, the first tempest of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, bore down on Cuba, threatening oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

“This uptrend is really a reaction to the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season threatening in the Gulf of Mexico area,” said Victor Shum, an analyst with US energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.

Hurricane Ivan drove US crude oil production to a 50-year low in September last year when it battered offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf.

Shum said investors were also awaiting a June 15 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna, particularly to see whether the cartel would decide to increase output.—AFP