London (Platts)--21Dec2009/808 am EST/1308 GMT

Crude futures rose Monday as a number of bullish factors helped give support to prices. On the other hand, comments from oil ministers in OPEC suggesting that there will be no change in the oil production ceiling at the meeting tomorrow in Angola were seen to offset the upward pressure.

At 12:25 GMT, February ICE Brent futures traded 86 cents/barrel higher than Friday's close to reach $74.61/b. January NYMEX WTI rose 25 cents/b to reach $73.61/b ahead of the expiration of the contract later Monday.

Supporting factors related mainly to attacks on pipelines in Nigeria and Iraq over the weekend, sources said.

"[Key militant group] MEND claimed that it attacked an oil pipeline in the Niger Delta. The action has not been confirmed by oil companies or the Nigerian military but it sometimes take days before an attack is confirmed. Hence we will price a small premium for the Nigerian risk," Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakobs said in a report Monday.

There are concerns that the violence in the oil-producing regions, which had such impact on output, could resurface. "There have been reports that the amnesty program has worked so far but there are signs that MEND and other groups were unhappy because the government is not keeping its part of the bargain," Mike Wittner, global head of oil research at Societe Generale said.

The attack Saturday on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil export pipeline in Iraq also raised concerns about crude oil flows into the world markets. Iraqi sources said that exports through the Turkish Mediterranean port Ceyhan were expected to resume Tuesday.

The attack on the line was the fourth since late October.

The markets brushed aside the Iran-Iraq border dispute that emerged Friday after Iranian troops crossed the border into Iraqi territory to occupy an oil field.

"We will not price a premium for the Iranian headlines on the Iraqi wells. There are continued issues on the exact positioning of the Iranian-Iraqi border but there will not be a new Iraq-Iran war," Jakobs said.

OPEC was seen as unlikely to surprise oil markets by changing current production levels when it meets Tuesday in the Angolan capital Luanda, according to a number of OPEC officials, Platts reported earlier.

"The OPEC ministers have been consistent in talking about a rollover and the market expects a rollover so the markets priced in that decision," Wittner said.

At 12:25 GMT, the dollar index was down 202 points to 77.620.

"Oil prices touched the bottom of the range [last week] and a range of $70-$80/b remains within OPEC's desired range," Wittner said.

--Walid Kurdi, walid_kurdi@platts.com