What's Moving the Oil Markets?

• Global crude futures rose on Friday after an attack on a Shell oil facility in Nigeria, adding to the bullish market sentiment created Thursday by OPEC's decision to cut production by a further 500,000 b/d from February.

•Militants in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's key oil-producing region, took around 40 people hostage after an attack late Thursday on an oil flow station operated by Shell, a company spokeswoman said Friday, leaving around 12,000 b/d of output shut in.

•OPEC's decision to reduce output from February, coming on top of a 1.2 million b/d cut which took effect at the start of November, added to the bullish sentiment, as did the release of the weekly US natural gas market data by the EIA on Thursday. US stocks saw a large withdrawal of 168 Bcf, compared with industry expectations ranging from 148 Bcf to 153 Bcf.

Updated: 12/15/07