Crude prices climb as base metals fall

Oil prices were higher on Tuesday after reports that rebels in Nigeria have carried out another oil pipeline attack there. A report from Reuters said that three pipelines were bombed, forcing Italian oil company Eni (ISE: ENI; NSYE: E) to bring to a stop 150,000 barrels a day in production shipped from its Brass terminal.

Also sending prices higher was a report form the Energy Information Agency in the United States, which said that oil markets are due to tighten this summer due to higher demand and continued reduced production from the OPEC nations. The EIA report also said that Nigeria could be producing up to 2.7 million barrels of oil per day by December if the 600,000 barrels per day currently out of production were brought back on line, but that this will be difficult if violence there continues.

By late afternoon on the Intercontinental Exchange in London, Brent crude June contracts had added 86 cents to $65.30 per barrel. In early afternoon trade in New York, meanwhile, June deliveries of West Texas Intermediate crude were 57 cents higher to $62.03 per barrel.

Most base metals prices were lower on Tuesday despite inventories that remain tight. Lead was $25 lower to $2,115 per tonne and zinc dropped $40 to $4,130 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, which had been closed Monday for a holiday. Copper fell $155 to $8,165 per tonne after a strike in Peru ended on Friday. Three-month nickel, meanwhile, was $600 lower to $51,000 per tonne.

The exception to the general trend in metals prices was aluminiuim, which added $6 per tonne on the session to trade at $2,896 per tonne.

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