Oil prices mixed on supply factors

Oil prices were mixed today as traders tracked the supply outlook amid unrest in Libya, the Ukraine-Russia crisis and on the eve of US inventory data.
The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in June, dipped two cents to USD 102.59 a barrel as the US government was tomorrow set to publish energy stockpiles data for last week.
Brent North Sea crude for July gained 37 cents to stand at USD 109.74 a barrel in late London deals.
"Further unrest in Libya is the main factor in the oil market at the moment," David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets, told AFP.

An elite Libyan unit joined a renegade general yesterday to battle Islamists in the east as rising lawlessness in the nation's two largest cities edges it closer to civil war.
Since the toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, successive Libyan governments have struggled to impose order as heavily armed former rebel brigades carve out their own fiefdoms.

The political crisis in the country comes just weeks after the resumption of oil exports following a nine-month blockade of sea terminals by rebels.
Elsewhere, Russia, Ukraine and the EU plan to meet next week for talks to resolve a gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow, European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said yesterday.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has warned Kiev it could suspend its gas deliveries on June 3 if the former Soviet republic does not settle by then its bill for June, worth USD 1.66 billion (1.21 billion euros).
Moscow has started demanding pre-payments for gas shipments to Ukraine under new rules introduced in response to the Ukraine crisis.
This threat has raised concern in the European Union, which imports a quarter of its gas from Russia, nearly half of which flows via Ukraine.