US crude futures were little changed above $116 a barrel on Monday, pausing after jumping more than 3 percent last week as better-than-expected US jobs data eased worries about health of the world's biggest energy consumer. NYMEX crude for June delivery fell 17 cents to $116.15 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 2240 GMT. It rose $3.80 to settle at $116.32 a barrel on Friday.
Tensions between Iran and Western powers continued to provide support for oil prices. Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday Tehran will not give up its rights in the face of Western pressure, two days after major powers said they would make a new offer to convince the Middle Eastern nation to halt its nuclear plans. Royal Dutch Shell shut more of its production in Nigeria after a fresh militant attack on Saturday on a flowstation in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where local militants have stepped up a campaign of violence.
"A few oil delivery lines are affected and some oil has spilled into the environment," a Shell spokesman said. Recent violence has already knocked 164,000 barrels a day of Shell production in Nigeria.
The Turkish army said on Saturday that it killed more than 150 Kurdish PKK fighters in air strikes in northern Iraq last week, but the rebel group denied this and security forces in the region also expressed scepticism. Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange cut net long positions last week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released Friday.
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