Summary Oil prices pushed higher in quiet trade Monday, gaining support from the Ukraine crisis.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices pushed higher in quiet trade Monday, gaining support from the Ukraine crisis following a deadly gunfight over the weekend.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for May delivery, added 7 cents to $104.37.
In London, where trade was limited to electronic deals due to the Easter holiday, Brent North Sea crude for June rose 42 cents to $109.65 a barrel.
Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said trading volumes were thin owing to the long Easter weekend.
However, investors were increasingly concerned about events in Ukraine, Chua said.
A deadly gunfight in a town in the east of the country on Sunday killed at least two pro-Kremlin rebels, shattering an Easter truce and raising fears that Russia would send in troops to the ex-Soviet state.
The attack undermined an accord worked out in Geneva last week between Russia, Ukraine and Western powers for pro-Moscow rebel groups to surrender their weapons.
With Ukraine a major conduit for Russian gas to western Europe, there are concerns that any full-scale armed conflict in the region will disrupt supplies and send oil and gas prices rocketing.
But Timothy Evans of Citi Futures said the market could be near the top after Brent rose $2.20 a barrel last week.
"While crude oil may still have potential to trade higher in the near term with the help of some seasonal strength in gasoline and tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the petroleum markets look increasingly overbought in a market with a projected supply/demand surplus," he said in a client note.
