Oil prices climb on Nigeria violence

LONDON: World crude prices headed upwards on Monday, reversing direction on reports of fresh attacks on oil facilities in key producer Nigeria, dealers said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, advanced 52 cents to 59.66 dollars per barrel in pit trading.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained 47 cents to 59.62 dollars per barrel in electronic deals.

Output of 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil was cut in Nigeria when armed protesters forced the closure of a flowstation belonging to the Italian oil company Agip in the Niger Delta, an Agip official said in Lagos.

"A total of 55,000 bpd were shut in as a result of the forced closure of the Tebidaba flowstation in Bayelsa State," said the official who demanded not to be named.

The oil market reacted "nervously" to news concerning Nigeria -- Africa's biggest crude producer -- while it tracked news from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish said.

"OPEC president Edmund Daukoru has promised that all OPEC countries will implement the cuts in full and warned that OPEC is likely to cut production again in December should oil prices remain soft," Norrish added.

Crude futures had spiked by more than one dollar on Friday after the US government warned of possible attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria. Earlier on Monday, prices had retreated as those fears eased briefly.