* Nigerian militants attack Shell pipeline
* Exxon reports problem at Baytown, Texas, refinery
* Wall Street rallies on economic optimism
* Oil to average $70 a barrel in 2010 - poll
* U.S. GDP shrinks slightly less in Q1 than first thought
(Updates with U.S. crude and gasoline settlements; Brent not
yet settled)
By Richard Valdmanis
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose sharply to
above $70 a barrel on Thursday on renewed rebel attacks against
oil facilities in Nigeria and worries that a glitch at the
largest U.S. oil refinery could tighten gasoline stockpiles
this summer driving season.
Crude also got a lift from a rally on Wall Street fueled by
optimism the economic recession was easing -- a prospect that
could spell a recovery in ailing world energy demand. []
U.S. crude futures <CLc1> for August rose $1.56 to settle
at $70.23 a barrel. London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.47 to
$69.80 a barrel.
"You had Nigeria and spillover strength from equities and
gasoline stronger on the Baytown Exxon snag," said Jim
Ritterbusch, president at oil consistency Ritterbusch &
Associates in Galena, Illinois.
In the latest in a string of attacks in Nigeria, Africa's
biggest oil producer, the Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta (MEND), said it had sabotaged the Billie-Krakama
pipeline in Rivers State, which supplies one of the country's
main export terminals. []
Attacks by MEND have forced foreign oil companies,
including U.S. oil major Chevron <CVX.N> and Italy's Agip
<ENI.MI>, to shut at least 133,000 barrels per day of oil
production in the last month. []
Shell said it had shut one of its pipeline junction points
on Thursday but declined to say whether any oil production had
been affected.
"Nigeria's MEND rebels have escalated their activities
recently and are certainly a supportive influence (to oil
prices)," Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global in New
York, said in a research note.
Adding to the gains, Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> told environmental
regulators in Texas that its huge Baytown refinery suffered an
operational glitch that triggered flaring.[]
Gasoline futures <RBc1> rose 5.58 cents to $1.8983 a gallon
with traders looking at relatively thin U.S. stockpiles ahead
of the July 4 holiday weekend, typically the busiest driving
weekend of the year.
Oil's rally came alongside hefty gains on Wall Street. Oil
has tracked equities markets closely in recent months as
traders look for signs of economic optimism.
Crude prices have more than doubled since the lows near $30
a barrel plumbed last winter, on hopes for an economic
recovery. A Reuters poll of industry analysts showed oil prices
are expected to average more than $70 a barrel in 2010,
compared with the latest forecast average of $56.59 for this
year. []
The U.S. economy shrank slightly less in early 2009 than
previously thought, the government reported on Thursday, though
there was widespread weakness in activity and demand was soft.
[]
Gross domestic product dropped 5.5 percent in the first
quarter, from 6.3 percent in the last quarter of 2008.
Separately, the Labor Department said the number of U.S.
workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly
rose last week by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 627,000 -- a
measure of the strain still faced by hard-pressed consumers.
[]
(Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London and Ramthan
Hussain in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
