New York (Platts)--21Jul2014/326 pm EDT/1926 GMT

Oil futures settled higher Monday, boosted by a rising geopolitical risk premium amid violence in Ukraine and Libya, where oil production has once again fallen.

NYMEX August crude settled $1.46 higher at $104.59/barrel; ICE September Brent settled 44 cents higher at $107.68/b.

In products, NYMEX August ULSD settled 1.36 cents higher at $2.8588/gal and August RBOB settled 3.11 cents higher at $2.8914/gal.

Ongoing violence in Ukraine and Libya were supportive developments, Tim Evans, analyst at Citi Futures Perspective said.

A confirmed decline in Libyan oil production has reinforced the idea that the anticipated recovery in the North African country may be inconsistent. Libyan oil production has fallen back to an estimated 450,000 b/d from about 540,000 b/d on Friday, an official with the state-owned National Oil Corp. said Monday (See story, 1726 GMT).

NYMEX August crude was also supported by apparent short-covering ahead of Tuesday's contract expiration and a recovery in gasoline market sentiment, Evans said.

"Expectations that US crude oil inventories will continue falling on strong refinery runs remains a more confident motivation for WTI buyers than the geopolitical threats to Brent-related supply," Evans said.

--Alison Ciaccio, alison.ciaccio@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard.rubin@platts.com

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