FOREX TRADERS

[twk000jester]

Only 12 more minutes till d'tiger rolls back over...

For the last month Amex Oil Index (XOI) and Phlx Gold and Silver Index ($XAU) has been tracking each other almost tic for tic...

----- Oil Tops $69, Hits Nine-Month High -----

By MASOOD FARIVAR
June 18, 2007 11:37 a.m.

Crude-oil futures rose more than $1 Monday, climbing above $69 a barrel for the first time since last September after fresh militant attacks on Nigerian oil installations and separate plans by Nigerian and Brazilian workers to strike.

The July crude futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange smashed through key resistance at $68.30 a barrel, a nine-month high set on Friday, to rise as high as $69.05 a barrel, up $1.05.

Hundreds of angry Nigerian villagers chased workers away from a Chevron oil-transfer facility Monday in restive Niger Delta, occupying the premises and, according to one report, forcing Chevron to shut production.

The attack followed a separate incident in which gunmen overran a flow station in the Niger Delta run by Eni SpA subsidiary Agip and were holding workers and army soldiers inside.

The incidents, along with a plan announced earlier Monday by Nigerian labor unions to stage an indefinite strike beginning Wednesday, renewed worries about oil supplies in Nigeria where more than 700,000 barrels a day of oil production remains shut in due to militant attacks.

"It's still a wait and see situation but apparently rebel activity has resumed and some people are nervous about it," said Mike Fitzpatrick, a vice president of risk management at brokerage Man Financial in New York. The attacks "represent a potential threat to supplies."

The August North Seat Brent contract on ICE Futures jumped 69 cents to $72.16 barrel. Petroleum products posted more modest gains. Reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, for July delivery rose 1.40 cents to $2.2741 a gallon. Heating oil for July delivery gained 2.89 cents to $2.0395 a gallon.

Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Futures, said the rally was being driven by "potential Brazilian and Nigerian strikes, the attack on Nigerian flow station" as well as technically triggered buying.

Workers at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, may go on a five-day strike beginning July 5, Brazil's main oil workers' union said in a news release on its Web site.

The council of the federation of Brazilian oil worker unions, or FUP, Sunday unanimously approved a strike that would affect Brazil's oil production, the release said. Petrobras produces more than 95% of Brazil's oil output of about 1.85 million barrels a day.

Brazil has the second-largest crude oil reserves in South America after Venezuela and is set to become a net oil exporter in 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Oil prices rallied more than 5% last week after the Department of Energy reported an unexpected drop in U.S. refinery activity and said gasoline stocks, counter to market expectations, remained flat.

Refinery utilization fell 0.4 percentage point to 89.2% of capacity in the week ended June 8, while gasoline stocks remained unchanged at 201.5 million barrels, well below their historic average, the DOE said in a report, renewing worries about U.S. gasoline supplies.

With those worries taking center stage, analysts say prices appear poised to push higher and make a run for the psychologically important $70-a-barrel level. However, uncertainty ahead of this week's DOE report is likely to keep any gains in check.