Oil swept more than $1 higher to above $67 on Monday as investment funds poured fresh cash into commodities, 23 percent of Nigerian oil output remained idle and US refiners geared up for peak gasoline demand.
Commodities prices rose across the board, with copper and zinc hitting record highs and gold at a 25-year high as new institutional money flowed in at the start of the new quarter.
US crude oil was up $1.07 at $67.70 a barrel at 1530 GMT, after hitting 67.80, its highest since February 1. London Brent was up $1.79 at $67.70 a barrel after touching a seven-month high of $67.79.
"Another surge of new money is coming into the commodity markets," said Mike Wittner of Calyon.
The loss of 550,000 barrels per day of Nigerian oil in rebel attacks has coincided with growing demand from refiners in the United States, consumer of 40 percent of the world's gasoline.
"The loss of critical Nigerian barrels just as US refiners are returning from maintenance has established a $60 floor (for US crude) and threatens to re-test the all time high of $70.85," analysts at PFC Energy wrote in a note.
Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru said the biggest foreign operator Royal Dutch Shell would restart its offshore 115,000 bpd EA field in days.
Shell declined comment. There was no sign of its more important onshore 340,000 bpd Forcados oilfield restarting.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Shell was reluctant to send its staff back into the violent southern delta region despite more naval patrols there.
Deutsche Bank noted many analysts expected attacks on Nigeria's oil industry to continue in the run-up to the presidential election early next year.
US oil hit a $70.85 record high last September after hurricanes knocked out a big chunk of Gulf of Mexico refining and oil and gas production.
Analysts say another active US hurricane this year could strain the oil market still further.
Opec ministers will meet informally during talks between oil consumers and producers in Qatar starting April 22, Opec's acting secretary general Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo said in Abuja. Opec's next full ministerial meeting is in June in Venezuela.
The group, which accounts for over half the world's oil exports, appears powerless to bring prices down.Daukoru, who is also the Opec president, said he expects Opec to keep official output at a near-maximum 29 barrels per day.
Asked if he expected Opec to cut its output ceiling, Daukoru said: "Not at this price level. Honestly I don't see it."
That chimed with comments by Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah at the weekend. "We are doing all that we can do... to stabilise the oil market," he said on Sunday.
PFC Energy analysts agreed. "Unless the Nigerian outages can be fixed, Opec will be in a bind again," they wrote.
Attiyah said he believed the global economy could absorb $60 a barrel crude, the latest indication that Opec was unlikely to allow prices to fall back sharply.
The head of Algerian state oil firm Sonatrach said prices were likely to remain high for the time being.
"There is a consensus based on market fundamentals that a sustained price will be maintained in the short term," Sonatrach Chief Executive Mohamed Meziane said in Algiers.
SINGAPORE: Oil prices held steady below $67 on Monday, supported by lingering doubts over Iran's latest pledge not to cut off oil supplies in its row with the West.
US crude oil futures eased 2 cents to $66.61 a barrel in the first half-hour of electronic trade after sliding 52 cents on Friday, retreating from a two-month high.
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