Global oil prices have risen after two fires over the weekend ended deliveries of crude through Iraq's Kirkuk export pipeline and as gasoline buyers chase tight United States supplies.
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) September crude futures were up 31 cents per barrel at $31.36 while October Brent crude was up 39 cents to $29.20 this morning.
Gasoline, which is in high demand during the United States summer driving season, led the market after a massive electricity blackout in North America last week closed seven refineries, threatening already thin supplies.
NYMEX gasoline futures were up over $1.00 per gallon and just below last week's peak, which was the highest since the start of the war in Iraq.
The US government said last week that domestic gasoline supplies were at an eight-month low.
A key export pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was on fire yesterday, and officials said they suspected another attack by saboteurs.
A US Army spokesman said in Baghdad the damage from the first attack could also take up to two weeks to repair.