VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Oil prices rose above $69 a barrel Tuesday amid concerns that Iran's nuclear standoff and violence in Nigeria could hurt supplies. Prices were also pushed higher by expectations of a further draw on gasoline stocks ahead of the U.S. summer driving season. Such worries overrode expectations that the weekly snapshot of U.S. inventory data on Wednesday will show crude-oil stocks climbing an average of 1.2 million barrels from last week.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 61 cents to $69.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract rose $1.35 to settle at $68.74 on Monday.
May Brent crude rose 76 cents to $69.51 a barrel on London's electronic ICE Futures exchange in intraday trading.
Gasoline futures rose more than 2 cents to $2.0340 a gallon while heating oil prices were up slightly at $1.9520 a gallon. Natural gas rose by more than 7 cents to $6.862 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Chief among the oil-market fears these days are Iran's nuclear standoff with the international community and violence in Nigeria that has forced the shutdown of more than half a million barrels a day of supply. Both Iran and Nigeria are members of OPEC.
Another source of concern is that more than 300,000 barrels per day of Gulf of Mexico production remains off the market as a result of last summer's hurricanes.
Tuesday's Nymex crude price is approaching highs set on Aug. 30, when front-month crude-oil futures traded as high as $70.85, then settled at $69.81.
The price spike comes as the U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program. But Iran has so far refused, saying the project is for research and not for development of nuclear weapons.
Adding to the bearish sentiment are forecasts that U.S. gasoline inventories in this week's government data to be released Wednesday will show a sixth consecutive decline with peak summer demand just round the corner.
Energy analysts surveyed Monday by Dow Jones Newswires estimated a decline in U.S. commercial gasoline stocks of 2.1 million barrels on average in the week ended April 7. They unanimously expected gasoline inventories to drop as suppliers prepared for the high-demand summer.
"This is leading to some nervous reactions in the market," noted Vienna's PVM Oil Associates.
Commercial distillate inventories—which include diesel fuel and heating oil—were expected to fall 1.4 million barrels on average, reflecting higher demand for diesel as Midwest farmers rev up machinery for the spring planting season. It would mark the 10th drop in 11 weeks.
Also on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince said the kingdom plans to increase its crude-oil production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day from about 9.5 million barrels a day. The world's largest oil producer is keen on "stabilizing the market in order to support the development of the world economy," said Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud at a public lecture during his visit to Singapore, adding the program costs more than $50 billion.
The Crown Prince didn't provide any schedule, but Saudi oil officials have made similar projections in the past.
