Oil prices rose this afternoon on supply fears after the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to refer major crude producer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear ambitions.
The UN nuclear watchdog has been formally notified of the country's decision to resume full-scale uranium enrichment work, Iran's top national security official was quoted as saying today, in response to the IAEA decision over the weekend.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, gained 67 cents to $66.04 a barrel in electronic deals today. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery won 68 cents to $64.07 a barrel.
Analysts said that the latest IAEA decision moves the tensions surrounding this issue up another level.
Tehran contends that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes, but the government is suspected by the US and Europe of trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Elsewhere, the market was also monitoring tense relations between the US - the world's biggest energy consumer - and Venezuela - the fifth-biggest global crude exporter. The country's President Hugo Chavez fired a blistering verbal attack on US President George W Bush, and flaunted the US thirst for Venezuelan oil as he launched his re-election campaign on Saturday.
Venezuela sells about 1.5 million barrels of oil daily to its powerful northern neighbour.
Nigeria remained also a concern for the market following further unrest in Africa's biggest crude producer.
An oil refinery, operated by Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, has been shut down in the southern Nigerian port of Warri because of damage by vandals to its crude oil supply pipeline, a company spokesman said on Sunday.
