* Brent tops $121 on Libya, Mideast concerns
* U.S. crude choppy after fresh 2-1/2 year peak
* Coming up: API oil inventory data, 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday
(Recasts, updates trading volume in paragraph 16)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose to their
highest since 2008 on Monday, with Brent surging above $121 a
barrel as Nigerian election delays and a short-lived strike in
Gabon joined a list of geopolitical supply concerns.
Prices rose for a third session on persistently weak
volume, with Brent leading gains after news of delays to
loading benchmark Forties crude. Libya's ongoing civil war and
the latest signs of unrest in Yemen also affected the European
market more intensely, traders said.
The latest gains snapped prices out of a month-long trading
range, once again shifting the focus to OPEC. The oil minister
of Iran, which holds the group's rotating presidency in 2011,
said Friday there was no need for a meeting.
Brent crude for May <LCOc1> rose $2.36 to settle at $121.06
after reaching $121.29, the highest intraday price since August
2008.
Several cargoes of Forties crude -- which typically sets
the level of dated Brent benchmark -- loading in April are
delayed due to a brief drop in North Sea Buzzard oilfield
production last week, trading sources said. For details, see
[]
U.S. crude <CLc1> rose 53 cents to settle at 108.47 after
reaching $108.78 intraday, the highest intraday price since
September 2008.
"Brent is up on Libya, Yemen unrest and the Nigerian
election," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in
Chicago.
"U.S. crude is hesitant because there is still worry that
the Federal Reserve might be nearing a rate hike or tighter
policy, which would lower liquidity and demand and strengthen
the dollar," he added.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to end the second round of
its bond buying program in June, and some Fed officials have
argued for a move away from the loose monetary policy.
Investors awaited Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech ahead
of a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta conference, scheduled for
7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT) Monday.
The European Central Bank has its policy meeting on
Thursday and is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis
points from a record low in reaction to rising inflationary
pressures in the euro zone. []
STAYING ABOVE $100
U.S. oil prices have risen 4 percent in three days, aided
by a government report last Friday that U.S. employment
registered solid growth for a second month in March and the
jobless rate hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent.
Many analysts now say oil prices are likely to continue to
trade above $100 a barrel, supported by rising production costs
and higher budgetary requirements in Saudi Arabia, making the
world's top exporter less inclined to raise production to cool
prices. []
But it's unclear where prices might peak, given OPEC's
reluctance to formally act to raise production targets despite
exports being lost to Libya's civil war and concerns that high
oil prices are stoking inflation.
U.S. crude trading volumes remained thin after the previous
two weeks saw the lowest weekly volumes for 2011.
Brent trading volumes on the Intercontinental Exchange were
below the 30-day average and only about 10,000 lots below U.S.
crude volumes on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with less
than an hour of post-settlement trading left on Monday.
NIGERIA, GABON ADD TO SUPPLY CONCERNS
Oil investors also eyed OPEC member Nigeria, where
parliamentary and presidential elections were postponed for one
week after failing to arrange logistics in time. Nigeria, a key
sweet crude producer, has a history of contentious elections
and problems with militants. []
Also in Africa, the oil workers union called off a strike
in Gabon that had halted around 240,000 barrels per day of
mainly low sulfur crude oil output. The union said it reached a
deal with the government, news that came after crude prices
settled. [] and[]
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are staging a
"massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata, evacuees said
Monday, as Turkey sought to broker a ceasefire to halt the
bloodshed. For details, see []
The uncertainty about Libya's shut in production and the
protests and unrest in the Middle East have kept a risk premium
in the market. While most analysts do not expect a quick return
of Libyan production in meaningful volumes, any sign of an end
to hostilities could allow some of the associated price premium
to quickly evaporate.
Italy became another European country to recognize Libya's
rebels, promising weapons as well as experts in rebuilding.
Rome also said the overtures from envoys sent by Gaddafi to
some European capitals were "not credible." []
In Yemen, a neighbor to Saudi Arabia, police and armed men
in civilian clothes opened fire on demonstrators opposed to
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, witnesses said. []
(Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and
Seng Li Peng in Singapore)
