Oil Rises a Second Day on Shell Pipeline Attack, Equity Gains
By Ben Sharples and Christian Schmollinger
June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a second day, trading above $70 a barrel after militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell Plc pipeline supplying an export terminal in Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said it disrupted operations at a pipeline supplying Shell’s Bonny terminal. Oil also advanced as U.S. equities gained the most in three weeks and the U.S. dollar declined against the euro.
“The factor supporting oil is the situation in Nigeria, where militants again have claimed to attack oil industry infrastructure,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. “It seems to have intensified and I suspect it’s something that’s helping keep the oil price at that higher level.”
Crude oil for August delivery rose as much as 54 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $70.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $70.61 a barrel at 10:06 a.m. Singapore time.
Yesterday, the contract rose $1.56, or 2.3 percent, to settle at $70.23 a barrel. Oil has gained 1.5 percent this week after falling 3.5 percent last week.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 32.21, or 0.3 percent, to 9,828.29 as of 9:05 a.m. in Tokyo.
