(Updates prices, previous SINGAPORE)
LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Oil steadied above $136 a barrel
on Friday after volatile trading in the previous session spurred
by threats to supplies from Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest
oil producer.
U.S. crude oil <CLc1> was 32 cents down at 136.32 a barrel
by 0915 GMT, within sight of last week's record $139.12. It
recouped a $4 fall on Thursday, ending 36 cents higher at
$136.74 a barrel, after concerns emerged about a possible strike
in Africa's top oil producer.
Brent crude <LCOc1>, whose July contract expires later in
the day, was down 44 cents at $135.65 a barrel.
Nigeria's senior oil workers' union, which wants the
expatriate managing director of Chevron's <CVX.N> local unit to
be transferred out of the country, said on Thursday talks to
avert a lockout were not going well and renewed its strike
threat. [].
"Certainly, we're worried about Nigeria, we're still very
mindful of the situation," said Peter McGuire, managing director
of Commodity Warrants Australia.
A strike would further dent oil output in Nigeria, where a
fifth of capacity has already been shut since early 2006, when
militants in the Niger Delta began a violent campaign of
sabotage against oil installations.
Analysts say Chevron produces around 350,000 barrels a day
out of Nigeria, which could be hit in a strike.
"We suspect we will be closing on a firmer note today, as we
doubt participants would want to head home net short going into
the weekend. If there is going to be a correction coming, it
will most likely have to wait until next week," said Edward Meir
of MF Global.
Oil has risen around 40 percent so far this year,
relentlessly boosted by fears of tight supplies, and weakness in
the U.S. dollar which has triggered investor buying of
commodities as a hedge against inflation.
The dollar, which received a boost on Thursday by
surprisingly strong U.S. retail sales data, dipped from a nearly
four-month high against the yen on Friday amid profit-taking by
investors ahead of a gathering of finance ministers from the
Group of Eight nations in Japan this weekend.
Later on Friday, traders will watch U.S. consumer price data
for May and real earnings for further signs on the economic
health of the world's top oil consumer.
The market will also keep an eye on moves by regulators in
the United States and Britain to rein in speculative crude
futures trading, which OPEC has said is the main cause of the
spikes in oil prices. []
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani reiterated that
view on Thursday, saying more crude from Saudi Arabia or other
OPEC producers will not solve the problem of high global prices.
(Reporting by Baizhen Chua in Singapore and Santosh Menon in
London; editing by James Jukwey)
