Oil prices moved sharply higher this evening after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut oil sales to the US.
The threat from Chavez boosted prices, even though analysts played down the chances of Venezuela actually slashing crude exports in its dispute with several of the largest US oil companies.
US crude soared $2 to $93.77 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude jumped $1.59 to $93.53.
President Chavez threatened over the weekend to turn off the taps to the US should American energy giant ExxonMobil succeed in claiming billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets as compensation for expropriated oil fields.
Venezuela - one of the world's top 10 oil producers and the largest in Latin America - is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the US.
Chavez's threat came after ExxonMobil won international court orders freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuela's state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
