Strike Shutdowns U.K. Pipeline, Tensions between U.S., Iran, plus Attack in Nigeria all help Boost Oil Prices to Record High

Strike that Shutdowns U.K. Pipeline, Tensions between U.S. and Iran, plus Attack in Nigeria all helped Boost Oil Prices to Record High and Outages at the Pumps
Monday, April 28, 2008

Reuters.com brings us some unwanted news this early Monday morning and it starts off like this... Oil struck a record high at $119.93 a barrel on Monday, extending the previous session's rally, as a strike closed a major British oil pipeline and as fresh violence in Nigeria reignited supply fears... Simmering geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran also helped boost oil prices...U.S. light crude for June delivery rose 81 cents to $119.33 by 2249 GMT, after striking a lifetime high of $119.93 a barrel at the start of Globex electronic trade...U.S. oil settled $2.46 higher at $118.52 a barrel on Friday... London Brent crude rose 66 cents to $117...
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Oil strikes new record near $120 on supply fears

* Bloomberg.com reports it this way... Crude oil rose to a record after BP Plc shut a North Sea pipeline and gunmen attacked a police station in Bonny Island, the site of one of Nigeria's largest oil and gas export terminals... BP closed the Forties Pipeline System, carrying 40 percent of the U.K.'s oil output, after a strike at the Grangemouth refinery cut power supplies to the network that delivers 700,000 barrels daily. Five police were killed and guns and ammunition seized in yesterday's attack in the Niger Delta where output has already been halved by strikes and attacks on pipelines...
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* Express.co.uk reports outages at the pumps... Petrol Stations began running out of fuel yesterday as the closure of Britain’s biggest oil pipeline caused countrywide panic buying... Pumps ran dry and long queues built up on garage forecourts just hours after 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland began a 48-hour walk-out in a row over pensions... The vital 700,000-barrels-a-day Forties pipeline, which delivers a third of the UK’s daily oil output, cannot function properly without power from Grangemouth... Despite “don’t panic” pleas from Government ministers, petrol retailers and motoring organizations, drivers were yesterday determined not to let their fuel tanks run dry...
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As Pumps Run Dry, Have Petrol Firms Got Us Over A Barrel?

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Somali Pirates Open Fire on Japanese Oil Tanker in Gulf of Aden - Oil Spikes to New Record $117.40 a Barrel Afterwards

Somali Pirates Open Fire on Japanese Oil Tanker in Gulf of Aden early Monday - Oil Spikes to New Record $117.40 a Barrel Afterwards
Monday, April 21, 2008

MonstersAndCritics.com brings us this VERY troubling news today and it starts off like this... Somali pirates opened fire on a Japanese tanker in the Gulf of Aden early Monday, but were scared away, according to Yemeni officials and a German military officer... The vessel was hit by a rocket fired by the pirates sailing in a small boat, said Nippon Yusen KK, the owners of the 332-metre-long crude-oil carrier Takayama... Yemeni coastguard officials said the tanker was about 145 kilometers off the south-eastern Yemeni port of Mukalla when it came under attack. The pirates had fired a rocket at the ship after they failed to seize it, the officials said...
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Somali pirates give up bid to seize Japanese oil tanker

* AP.Google.com reports it this way... Oil prices spiked to a record $117.40 a barrel after a Japanese oil tanker was attacked in Middle Eastern waters, off the east coast of Yemen... The 150,000-ton tanker Takayama was attacked about 270 miles off the Yemen coast in the Gulf of Aden while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement posted on its Web site...
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Oil spikes to record above $117 a barrel after tanker attack