Crude oil rose above $133 a barrel in New York as a militant attack in Nigeria disrupted supplies and on speculation fuel subsidies in Asian countries will continue to spur demand.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main militant group, said it attacked a crude-oil pumping station operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc. India will take a decision soon on whether to raise fuel prices, Oil Ministry spokesman S. Sundareshan said today. China Petroleum & Petrochemical Corp. was paid about 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) in subsidies in April, according to a company official.
``Nigeria is such a bad area that it's more of a surprise if a week goes by and nothing bad has happened,'' said Jonathan Kornafel, a director for Asia at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. ``Any demand decrease out of the U.S. is immediately eclipsed by anything out of the Asian region right now and that has everything to do with subsidies.''
Crude oil for July delivery rose as much as $1.27 a barrel, or 1 percent, to $133.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange from the May 23 close. Prices were at $133.31 at 2:04 p.m. Singapore time. Floor trading was closed yesterday for the Memorial Day holiday and electronic transactions were booked to today for settlement.
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