Oil, precious metals see gains

Crude oil prices were higher on Friday on issues ranging from continuing unrest in Nigeria to an upcoming announced closure of a North Sea oil field.

Events in Nigeria continue to cause concern even though at least one militant group has spoken out against the kidnapping of a three-year-old British girl there, the latest in a series of such events in that nation.

Statoil (OSE: STL; NYSE: STO) said that it will close one of its oil fields for maintenance beginning on August 3, taking almost 300,000 barrels per day out of production, while refineries in Kansas, Texas and California are reporting either closures or slowdowns in production.

Brent crude for August delivery added 60 cents to $75.35 per barrel after going as high as $76.01 per barrel in morning trade on the Intercontinental Exchange, while West Texas Intermediate crude August contracts added 69 cents to $72.50 per barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nymex August gasoline was 1 cent higher to $2.30 per gallon, but Nymex September natural gas fell 20 cents to $6.53 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were up on Friday as August gold was $4.20 higher in early afternoon trade in New York, to $654.38 per troy ounce.

September silver was at $12.76 per troy ounce, a gain of 18 cents.

Platinum prices were also up, adding $7.30 to trade at $1,311.10 in New York.

Among base metals, copper was steady in early afternoon trade in New York at $3.59 per pound, a bit higher than quotes earlier in the session, while in London, three-month copper was down $35 to $7,825 per tonne as London Metal Exchange inventories dropped.

Some strikes continued at Latin American copper mines and others strikes have been threatened at mines in Chile, Peru, and Mexico.

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