LONDON/NEW YORK, 19 August 2003 — Oil prices rose yesterday after attacks by saboteurs ended deliveries through a key export pipeline for Iraqi crude and an upsurge of violence in the Nigerian oil city of Warri raised fears of further disruption.

US oil prices held near $31 while October Brent crude was up 33 cents at $29.14. New York crude oil futures were 10 cents lower to $30.95 a barrel in a midday technical sell-off after hitting a session high of $31.60 a barrel, while North Sea Brent was down 3 cents to $28.78 a barrel. “The combination of Nigeria and Iraq is keeping the market supported, but I don’t think it’s going to go that much higher unless the situation in Nigeria gets a lot worse,” said analyst Paul Bednarczyk of 4CAST.

“The market appears moving technically at the moment and correcting from Friday’s levels, which appear to be overdone,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. Over the weekend, two blasts on the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline closed the key northern export route. The pipeline had only last week resumed pumping for the first time since forces led by the United States invaded Iraq in March.

Over the weekend, two blasts on the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline closed the key northern export route over the weekend. The pipeline had only last week resumed pumping for the first time since the US invaded Iraq in March. Iraqi engineers and US soldiers yesterday struggled to carry out repairs, but officials said it could be two weeks before the pipeline was working again.

A senior Oil Ministry source said Iraq would not meet its target to produce two million barrels per day (bpd) of oil by the end of the year if looting and sabotage persisted. “If things are stable for two or three months straight, then we could reach our target. If they stay the same, it can’t happen,” a senior Oil Ministry official told Reuters.

The violence in Nigeria is the most serious since March, when an ethnic Ijaw rebellion forced oil majors to evacuate key installations and shut down 40 percent of the OPEC member’s oil output. Dozens died in the revolt. The latest cycle of unrest could delay any plans by Royal Dutch/Shell , Nigeria’s biggest producer, and ChevronTexaco to restart some facilities abandoned after the clashes five months ago.