Oil for February delivery rose as much as 54 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $99.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $99.63 at 1:52 p.m. Sydney time.
Nigerian labor unions said yesterday they will continue a strike that threatens oil exports from Africa’s top producer because no agreement has been reached yet with President Goodluck Jonathan on restoring fuel subsidies. The oil union Pengassan said it would begin shutting down oil output on Jan. 15 if there was no agreement with the government.
Crude dropped 1.8 percent yesterday to $99.10, the lowest close since Dec. 30, after a proposed European Union embargo of Iranian crude imports against the nation’s nuclear program was said to be facing a delay of six months
