LONDON, May 5: World oil prices held above $70 per barrel on Friday after plunging this week from record heights on news of a surprise increase in US motor fuel stockpiles, dealers said.

Concerns about the West’s standoff with Iran over its disputed nuclear energy programme and violence in oil-rich Nigeria would likely keep upward pressure on prices, they added.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, added 18 cents to $70.12 per barrel in electronic deals before the market’s official opening on Friday.

The contract had plummeted by $4.67 or 6.3 per cent in value over the course of Wednesday and Thursday.

The price of London’s Brent North Sea crude for June delivery gained 50 cents to $70.79 per barrel on Friday, after losing 5.8 per cent of its value over the last two days.

Crude futures hit reverse gear this week after Wednesday’s weekly stocks update from the US Department of Energy (DoE), which eased concerns about gasoline or petrol shortages in the United States ahead of the peak-demand driving season.

However, at the start of the week, the Iranian crisis had driven Brent crude prices to a record level just below $75 per barrel. New York had traded near to its all-time high of $75.35, hit on April 21.

In Friday’s trading “oil futures were a little higher, bouncing after two days of heavy falls that were driven by a surprise rise in gasoline stocks”, analysts at the Sucden brokerage said.—AFP