By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures gained in electronic trading on Monday as political unrest in Libya escalated and instability across the Middle East and North Africa continued to stoke supply fears.
Oil for March delivery (CLH11 87.38, +1.18, +1.37%) , the front of month contract which expires Tuesday, gained $1.00 or 1.2% to $87.20 a barrel in electronic trading on Monday.
Oil for April delivery (CLJ11 91.48, +1.77, +1.97%) , the more actively traded contract, rose $1.62 or 1.8%, to $91.36 a barrel.
Violent demonstrations intensified in Libya over the weekend, as protestors attempt to end the 42-year rule of the country’s leader Moammar Gadhafi.
On Sunday the son of the Libyan leader appeared on state television and warned protesters that they risked inciting a civil war in which Libya’s oil wealth “will be burned,” the Wall St Journal reported on its website.
“This is a separatist movement and it threatens the unity of Libya as a country,” Seif al-Islam Gadhafi said in a televised speech. “A few people have died and violence against the police have escalated,” he said.
Human Rights Watch estimates the death toll from four days of protests in cities across Libya is at least 223, according to a report on its website on Monday.
Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa.
Protests extended into Morocco for the first time over the weekend, and demonstrations continued in Bahrain and Iran.
Unfolding protests in the Middle East and North Africa have underpinned oil prices in recent weeks.
Analysts at ClearView Energy Partners said in a recent note that the events “have significant potential to impact petroleum supply, during and after any transition to a new government, because the nations undergoing turmoil contribute a meaningful share to global liquids production.”
