LONDON, March 19: Oil prices rose slightly in London but fell in New York on Wednesday, a day after suffering heavy losses, with nerves fraying before an expected war in Iraq despite few expectations of serious supply shortages.

The price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for May delivery rose 18 cents in late deals here to $27.43 per barrel.

The slight recovery followed a plunge of over two dollars in London and over three dollars in New York on Tuesday as traders banked on a swift US-led victory against Iraq without significant supply problems.

In contrast, the benchmark New York light sweet crude contract for April delivery was down 67 cents to $31 in early trading.

However analysts said that fall was mainly due to traders squaring their positions ahead of the expiry of the contract on Thursday.

“The impending potentialwar against Iraq is really an overriding factor,” said Prudential Bache broker Tony Machacek.

“This has been a market in the last two days that surprised a lot of people with the speed with which it came down,” said GNI trader Robert Laughlin.

“Many people are still gambling very much on a very short war, they think it could actually last days.—AFP