Oil prices rose on Thursday as a spate of refinery problems in the United States rekindled fears that oil and fuel producers will be hard-pressed to keep up with growing demand. US light sweet crude settled up 52 cents to $61.38 a barrel, little more than a dollar shy of the all-time peak $62.50 struck Wednesday. Brent futures in London gained 47 cents to $60.12.
"The oil system, both upstream and downstream, is being run close to sustainable limits and the tensions created by the absence of slack are now the key driver of prices," Barclays Capital said in a note.
A half-dozen refineries in the United States have sustained unplanned unit shutdowns since late July, along with several in key-supplier Venezuela, underscoring worries that plants are becoming increasingly vulnerable to problems ahead of seasonal maintenance in the autumn.
Adding to concerns, Exxon Mobil said it delayed the planned restart of its big refinery in Joliet, Illinois, until at least the end of the week. Sources said the delay could be as long as ten days.
BP also delayed the restart of two of its gasoline units at its Texas City refinery.
Thursday's rally reversed a sell-off on Wednesday after US inventory data showed an unexpected rise in crude stocks of 200,000 barrels due to the third-highest import levels on record.
The increase was offset by a four-million barrel fall in gasoline inventories, which took them to the lower half of the seasonal range, the US government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported.
Supplies of distillate fuels, such as diesel and heating oil, meanwhile, have moved back to the upper half of their normal range demand of 4.2 percent over last year during the past four weeks, the EIA said.
Diesel-fuelled trucks have been busy transporting goods across the country, a sign of robust economic activity. The US economy grew at a solid 3.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the government said in July.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping at the highest level in 26 years. The group has repeatedly blamed current red-hot prices on a lack of refining capacity rather than a shortage of overall crude.
Nigeria's top oil official Edmund Daukoru told Reuters on Thursday some members of the cartel wanted to suspend production quotas and allow a production free-for-all to help cool prices, but that Nigeria favoured keeping formal limits.
Most Opec members are already pumping at full tilt, so a quota suspension would have little impact on supply. Predicting prices would stay at current levels for two years before moderating, Daukoru said oil prices above $60 could hurt global economic growth.
Analysts were worried already stretched supplies could be threatened further by an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season. US forecasters have said there could be up to 21 tropical storms this year, of which 11 could strengthen into hurricanes.
An average hurricane season has only 10 tropical storms, including six that become hurricanes.
Geopolitical risks were also at the forefront of traders' minds. The death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd earlier this week, together with news Iran's new president was pressing ahead with the country's nuclear program, has raised fears about possible instability and disruption of Middle Eastern oil supplies.
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