MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Crude at highest in 30 months pushed by US recovery and political turbulence

A Gaddafi envoy met Greek PM looking for a diplomatic solution to hostilities

Oil climbed to the highest level in 30 months in New York on Monday on speculation that US economic growth may support demand and a protracted conflict in Libya will curtail supply.

Futures advanced a third day after an April 1 report showed the US, the world’s largest crude consumer, added more jobs than economists forecast last month. Prices are too high and “worrying,” the chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said Monday.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi bombed an oil field south of the city of Ajdabiya, Al Jazeera television reported, heightening concern output losses from Africa’s third-largest producer may continue.

Crude for May delivery gained as much as 84 cents or 0.8% to 108.78 USD a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Sept. 24, 2008. Prices are up 25% from a year ago.

Brent oil for May settlement rose as much as 1.05, or 0.9%, to 119.75 USD a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract climbed 2.7% last week.

“Kuwait would prefer to see oil prices at 90 to 100 USD a barrel”, Kuwait Petroleum CEO Farouk Al-Zanki said at a conference in Kuwait City.

Meantime from Athens Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droustas said that an emissary of Gaddafi met with Greece’s Prime Minister on Sunday and may be seeking a political or diplomatic solution to hostilities.

But not only Middle East and North Africa protests have the oil market nervous, Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, will hold general elections a week later than planned after a vote to elect lawmakers ended in chaos on April 2.

Parliamentary elections, which had been rescheduled to start this week will take place on April 9, while the presidential vote is set for April 16, Attahiru Jega, head of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said on Sunday.

Nigeria is estimated to have pumped 1.92 million barrels a day in March while Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped 9 million barrels a day.