LONDON, Jan 26: World oil prices rose on Thursday as ongoing supply concerns, notably in Nigeria, helped to reverse three days of losses, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, climbed 40 cents to $66.25 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery gained 55 cents to $64.78 per barrel in electronic deals.

Prices had closed down more than a dollar on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday when data revealed a jump in stockpiles of gasoline and distillates in the United States.

Nevertheless, “the market is still being supported, by amongst other things, the attacks on foreign oil exporters in Nigeria”, analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said.

Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has cut production by 221,000 barrels since the start of the crisis.

According to reports, Nigeria’s oil minister Edmund Daukoru, who is also president of Opec, said it would take at least a month to repair the damaged infrastructure. His comments were reportedly made on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The rebound in prices on Thursday came after they had closed down $1.21 in New York and $1.11 in London on Wednesday.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) revealed on Wednesday that stockpiles of distillate products, used to make heating fuel and diesel, had climbed by 1.8 million barrels to 136.5 million in the week ending January 20.

Stockpiles of motor gasoline, or petrol, had increased by 3.2 million barrels over the week to 214.8 million. The rises for distillates and gasoline in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of energy, had been almost triple analysts’ consensus forecasts.

Elsewhere, the data revealed that US crude stocks had fallen 2.3 million barrels to total 319.1 million barrels.

Oil prices in New York are around 3.0 dollars below their level on Monday, when crude futures soared to 69.20 dollars per barrel on global supply concerns.

That price level, reached for the first time in more than four months, later fell on profit-taking. Other factors weighing on prices have been an offer from Saudi Arabia to supply more crude if necessary and an easing of tensions in Iran.—AFP