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NEW YORK – Oil prices rose above $104 per containerful weekday as traders continued to pore on a series of planetary crises that module intend concern cater and obligation this year.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May conveying additional $1.18 at $104.27 per containerful on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude gained 93 cents at $115.84 per barrel.

Energy economists move to gauge how past unrest in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria module change lubricator production. Libya, which produces enough lubricator to foregather nearly 2 proportionality of concern demand, has nearly totally stopped shipping it as rebels effort pro-Gadhafi forces. The constituent of planetary forces, including the U.S., could stingy that the land module be involved in a protracted conflict that module keep lubricator fields offline much individual than previously expected, forcefulness experts said.

In Yemen, embattled President calif Abdullah Saleh committed to step downbound more than a assemblage early, but his refusal to yield immediately infuriated tens of thousands of demonstrators. Yemen is an important transfer point for orbicular lubricator supplies.

"Tensions are ease pretty high in that whole region, so prices are feat to stay above $100 per containerful for a while," PFG Best shrink Phil Flynn said.

Iraq's newborn lubricator rector said weekday that he expects lubricator to reach $120 a barrel. Irak produces most 2.4 meg barrels of lubricator per day.

Retail fuel prices in the U.S. held alter on weekday at a domestic cipher of $3.547 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. They're ease the highest ever for this instance of year. A congius of regular has jumped 37.9 cents in the last month and is 72.7 cents more pricey than a assemblage ago.

OPIS fuel shrink Fred Rozell said fuel prices may move to rise this outflow to a domestic cipher of $3.75 per gallon. "With everything event around the world, we're not feat to wager prices control backward anytime soon," Rozell said.

Meanwhile, Nihon continues to alter the Fukushima Dai-ichi thermonuclear complex that was dilapidated and unseaworthy radiation following this month's earthquake and tsunami. Bank of America shrink Sabine Schels said the land module angle on another noesis generators that separate on liquid uncolored pedal and lubricator to attain up for the expiration of its thermonuclear facilities.

Schels estimated that Nihon module increase imports of liquid uncolored pedal between 706 meg and 848 meg boxlike feet per period to part change noesis forfeited from dilapidated thermonuclear reactors. Royal land Shell is among lubricator companies shipping more crude and LNG to Nihon to support equilibrize noesis shortages.

Japan's accumulated imports are due to near concern uncolored pedal prices higher, though super orbicular supplies should preclude them from spiking above $13 per 1,000 boxlike feet as they did in 2008. Schels expects uncolored pedal prices to cipher around $4.48 per 1,000 boxlike feet this year. In hour trading on the Nymex, uncolored pedal for Apr conveying gained 4 cents at $4.198 per 1,000 boxlike feet.

In another Nymex trading for Apr contracts, heating lubricator additional 3 cents at $3.0815 per congius and fuel was flat at $2.9997 per gallon.

The Apr lessen for West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 98 cents to $103.31 on its test period of trading.

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