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SINGAPORE – Oil prices hovered above $102 a containerful Thursday in aggregation as unmerciful fighting in Libya appears to hit revilement vulgar production in the OPEC commonwealth more than previously estimated.

Benchmark vulgar for Apr conveying was up 30 cents at $102.53 a containerful at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The lessen added $2.60 to resolve at $102.23, the maximal deciding since Sept. 26, 2008.

In London, Brent vulgar for Apr conveying was up 32 cents to $116.67 a containerful on the ICE Futures exchange.

The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that a power effort between supporters and opponents of Libyan cheater Moammar Gadhafi had revilement up to 1 meg barrels per period of vulgar production, more than the group's preceding estimate of as much as 750,000 barrels per day.

Traders are also factoring in the existence that political upthrow in another oil-rich countries could crop orbicular vulgar supplies.

"The spread of protests into another field lubricator producing nations much as Oman, Algeria and especially Saudi peninsula could ready this lubricator mart on a boil for some time to come," Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.

Analysts said sustained lubricator prices above $100 would eventually counteract consumer obligation and threaten orbicular scheme growth.

With lubricator prices "at these elevated levels, the current orbicular scheme feat is at significant venture of stalling," said Richard Soultanian of NUS Consulting.

In another Nymex trading in Apr contracts, heating lubricator chromatic 0.3 coin to $3.06 a congius and gasoline dropped 0.5 coin to $3.02 a gallon. Natural gas futures were up 0.7 coin at $3.82 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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