SINGAPORE - Oil prices were steady around $63 a barrel in Asian trading Friday despite a spate of oil worker kidnappings and attacks in Nigeria's oil-rich delta region.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose 5 cents to $63.24 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange mid-afternoon in Singapore.
Brent crude contract for June delivery gained 27 cents to $66.32 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Gunmen in Nigeria, Africa's leading oil exporter, kidnapped at least 21 people in three attacks that left a Nigerian soldier dead, officials and witnesses said Thursday. Nine captives were later reported freed, of whom eight were foreigners.
Unrest has plagued Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta region for years, and in recent months gunmen have stepped up a campaign against the oil industry, blowing up oil pipelines to cut production by a fifth and kidnapping scores of foreign workers.
Analysts said despite the possibility of disruption in crude supplies, the Nigerian unrest is already factored into prices, meaning that traders expect violence in the African nation to be a regular occurrence.
The Nymex crude June contract fell 49 cents to settle at $63.19 a barrel Thursday after the United States said it would suspend oil purchases for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, intended to be the country's backup oil supply in the event of a severe, unexpected disruption, until at least after the summer driving season.
Heating oil futures gained 1.02 cents to $1.8555 a gallon while natural gas prices rose 0.4 cent to $7.951 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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