OIL FUTURES: Crude Extends Rally; Nymex Hits Fresh 2 1/2-Year High
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110407-716978.html
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures maintained upward momentum in early Asian trade Friday, with the U.S. oil benchmark rising to its highest level in more than two and a half years as market participants continued to fret over supply problems in Libya and other oil-producing states near it.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $110.80 a barrel at 0223 GMT, up 50 cents in the Globex electronic session, after having hit $110.89 a barrel, the highest intraday level since Sept. 22, 2008.
May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 43 cents to $123.10 a barrel.
"Traders are gearing up for further oil price upside, and I expect Brent prices to lead the rally, because Europe is more worried [than the U.S.] by the conflict" in the Middle East and North Africa, said a trader at SK Energy.
AFP reported Thursday that an oil field in Libya had been damaged and Libyan insurgents as well as civilians stampeded out of Ajdabiya due to rumors that loyalist forces were outside the eastern town, hours after an air strike tore into the rebels' defenses.
The panic came as a top American general said it was unlikely the rebel forces could launch an assault on Tripoli and oust Moammar Gadhafi--even as France confidently predicted the strongman's downfall.
Traders have been worried that a drawn-out civil war might ultimately damage or destroy Libyan oil installations and "events on Thursday seem to have highlighted those fears," Cameron Hanover said in a note.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 80 points to $3.1945 a gallon, while May heating oil traded at $3.2174, 114 points higher.
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