Brent crude near 2-1/2 year high; spreads widen on unrest

                                
 * Brent stays near 2 1/2 year high
                                
 * WTI/Brent spread above $12/bbl as Europe under more
pressure
                                
 * Geopolitical concerns to support prices
                                
 * Coming Up: U.S. API petroleum stocks at 2030 GMT

                                
 By Seng Li Peng	
                                
 SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices hovered near their
highest levels since 2008 on Tuesday, with Brent near $121 a
barrel, as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa supported
prices and on delays to elections in Nigeria.	
                                
 Values were above the preferred range of top oil exporter
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbour and OPEC ally Kuwait, but
there is no sign yet of a coordinated output increase from the
producer group.	
                                
 Brent crude for May <LCOc1> fell 32 cents to $120.74 a
barrel at 0421 GMT, after closing at $121.06 a barrel on Monday,
the highest settlement since Aug. 1, 2008. 	
                                
 U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 41 cents to $108.05 a barrel at 0421
GMT, after settling at $108.47 a barrel on Monday, the highest
since Sept. 22, 2008.	
                                
 Given the various factors supporting sentiment, crude prices
are probably down on profit taking, said Jonathan Barratt,
managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Melbourne. 	
                                
 Delayed loading of several cargoes of Forties crude -- which
typically sets the level of the dated Brent benchmark -- will
temporarily add to the supply pressure. [ID:nLDE7331AF]	
                                
 New of delays from the Buzzard North Sea oilfield came
shortly after a strike by oil workers in Gabon halted the
country's estimated 240,000 barrels per day of crude oil
production, Africa's seventh largest. [ID:nLDE7310FW]	
                                
 "Anything that affects Brent or Africa is going to be
important, especially under the current situation in Libya,"
said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi
Corp. 	
                                
 "This is the worst possible time to have an outage in Africa
regardless of their production. The spread between the two
crudes have widened, although not as bad as before."  	
                                
 The discount of U.S. crude futures to Brent <CL-LCO1=R>
widened to $12.67 at 0421 GMT, short of record levels of $17 a
barrel at the start of March. 	
                                
  "WTI had a good run at $108, and it needs to stay above
$108 to be bullish. But last night, the spread between WTI and
Brent blew out,"  said Barratt.	
                                
  "This gives us a clue that perhaps there is more demand in
Europe, and more concerns in Europe with what's happening in the
Gulf region." 	
                                
 Saudi Arabia has not changed its view of the optimal level
for oil prices and is still seeking $70 to $80 a barrel, a Saudi
official told Reuters on Monday. [ID:nWNA5294]	
                                
 Kuwait would like to see world oil prices decline but does
not expect them to fall below $90 a barrel, Farouk al-Zanki,
chief executive of state oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corp
(KPC), said on Monday. [ID:nLDE7330CV]	
                                
 Conflict continues in Libya, the world's 17th-largest oil
producer and Africa's third-largest, which holds the continent's
largest crude oil reserves. 	
                                
 	
                                
 Forces loyal to its leader Muammar Gaddafi are staging a
"massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata, evacuees said on
Monday. [ID:nLDE73300N]	
                                
 Rebels in Libya may this week sell the first tanker full of
crude since the uprising against Gaddafi halted exports from the
North African country and sent oil prices up from $100.
[ID:nLDE7331RP]	
                                
 Violence also escalated in Yemen, with police and armed men
in civilian clothes opening fire on anti-government
demonstrators in the Yemeni cities of Taiz and Hudaida on
Monday. [ID:nLDE7330FC]	
                                
  The U.S. government is trying to ratchet up pressure on
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to reach a deal with the
opposition that would ultimately lead to his handing over power
after 32 years, U.S. officials said on Monday. [ID:nLDE7331DG]  	
                                
 Nigeria, a major producer of sweet crude, postponed
parliamentary and presidential elections by one week on Sunday
after failing to get logistics prepared in time, while in
Greece, a court has allowed workers at Hellenic Petroleum
<HEPr.AT>, the country's biggest refiner, to continue a 10-day
strike, labour union officials said. [ID:nLDE7331PZ]
[ID:nLDE7320FS]	
                                
 Workers started shutting the company's flagship Aspropyrgos
refinery on Sunday and plan to do the same at the Thessaloniki
refinery on Wednesday and Elefsina on Thursday. 	
	
 (Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Michael Urquhart)