More Videos
MOST SHARED
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- The Executive Job Search
- Garlic Price Rises Surpass Gold, Stocks in China
- New-Home Sales Jump 6.2% To Highest Level in Over Year
- US Plans to Reduce Emissions By 17% Within Next Ten Years
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- Activision Prepares to Double Dip on ‘Modern Warfare 2’
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- AIG, Ex-CEO Greenberg Reach Pact to Settle Disputes
- Bank of America CEO Search May Extend Into 2010
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- 'Cancer of Fraud' Permeates Health Care System: Critics
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- For Many in US, It Will Be a Scaled-Down Holiday Season
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- Jobless Claims Below 500,000, Durable Orders Slip
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
Text Size 
Oil prices rose Thursday after concerns about a possible strike in Nigeria, Africa's top producer, stirred supply worries.
 |
U.S. crude [US@CL.1 Loading... ()] settled up 36 cents at $136.74 a barrel, following a $5 surge in prices on Wednesday.
London Brent crude [GB@IB.1 Loading... ()] gained $1.07 to settle at $136.09 a barrel.
Oil dipped as low as $131.55 earlier on the stronger dollar, before rebounding on news Nigeria's senior oil workers union renewed a strike threat against Chevron, raising supply worries.
A strike would further slash oil output in Nigeria, where a fifth of capacity has been shut in since early 2006, when ethnic militants in the Niger Delta began a violent campaign of sabotage against oil installations.
Oil's earlier losses came as the dollar gained on a government report showing total sales at U.S. retailers rose 1 percent in May, twice as much as expected.
A weak dollar in recent months has pushed investors into commodities as a hedge against inflation.
Oil's earlier losses also came amid news that U.S. regulators were seeking a deal with their counterparts in Britain to impose position limits on U.S. crude contracts traded on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The move by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Britain's Financial Services Authority could shake some speculators out of the market, analysts said.
"It is sending the message that the CFTC will be taking action. This is probably the first of many steps they are going to implement," said Rob Kurzatkowski, futures analyst for optionsXpress in Chicago. "It has implications for larger institutional traders —pension funds, hedge funds — that have been in the oil markets."
Crude oil prices have jumped roughly 40 percent this year, hitting an all-time high above $139 last week. Commodities markets have boomed over the past six years as demand from emerging economies tests supply growth.
Oil consuming and producing nations, often at odds over the cause of the spike in prices, will meet in Saudi Arabia on June 22 to seek a solution to rising energy costs, which have sparked riots across the globe.
U.S. officials have blamed the surge in prices on fundamentals, and have called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise output to help cool down markets.
But OPEC members blame speculators for high prices and insist they can do nothing to lower prices.
"The market fundamentals are not affecting prices. The problem is the economic crisis in the United States, which led to a fall in the dollar's value, and threats against Iran, which increased geopolitical tensions," OPEC President Chakib Khelil said, according to Algerian state news agency APS.
"Supply at present exceeds demand, and there is a surplus of around 500,000 barrels per day," Khelil said, adding that OPEC would hold its scheduled meeting on Sept. 9 to "evaluate the market and take decisions to stabilize it."
Print
Email
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
- Eric Schmidt pledges to create a virtual copy of the Iraq National Museum at Google’s expense.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- More shoppers than ever plan to comparison-shop this season. Who will benefit?
- It may be the most unusual guide to business you'll read.
- How can you get out of debt and back on the road to recovery? Follow these ten steps.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes