• IPE brent futures in London gained more than half a dollar in early Monday trade as the stand-off between the US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear enrichment program intensived with reports suggesting Washington has drawn up contingency plans to strike at Iran's nuclear sites if diplomacy fails. • "The headline that is really driving the market upwards is the news that military action in Iran might be close to hand," said one broker. "There was a big article in the New Yorker over the weekend about how steps are already being undertaken by the Bush administration to identify targets within Iran for military action."

• Another factor providing support to the market is the uncertainty over when Shell will resume production in Nigeria, where more than 500,000 b/d remains shut it because of attacks by militants. Gasoline strength was also helping to push up crude with the US sucking in gasoline supply from Europe as refinery outages in the US have strained supplies there with more product seen heading across the Atlantic as the arbitrage between Northwest Europe and the US remained open.