Oil prices hit intraday record near 120 dollars

SINGAPORE, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices hit an intraday record near 120 dollars a barrel on Monday after the shutdown of a major North Sea pipeline added to supply worries, analysts said.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, touched 119.
93 dollars a barrel in electronic deals and was later trading in Asia 83 cents higher at 119.35 dollars.

The contract closed 2.46 dollars higher at 118.52 dollars a barrel on Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery rose 93 cents to 117.
27 dollars a barrel after a rise of 2.
00 dollars to 116.34 dollars on Friday, when the contract hit a record intraday peak of 117.
56 dollars.

“Supply worries have pushed oil prices higher since Friday, and will remain the dominant influence on prices in the near term,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Britain on Sunday shut down a North Sea pipeline which supplies 40 percent of its oil and gas, sparking panic-buying of petrol after a strike at a major refinery.

The start of a two-day walkout by around 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery, west of Edinburgh