Oil prices hit an all-time high near US$120 a barrel Monday after a weekend refinery strike closed a pipeline system that delivers a third of Britain's North Sea oil to refineries in the U.K., the Associated Press reported. The shutdown comes amid supply outages in Nigeria that have helped to support oil against a strengthening dollar. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record US$119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract eased back to US$119.33 a barrel by midafternoon in Singapore, up 81 cents from Friday's close of US$118.52. BP PLC on Sunday shut down the Forties Pipeline System that carries more than 700,000 barrels of oil a day to the U.K. because of a 48-hour walkout by employees at a refinery in central Scotland. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 0.92 cent to US$3.312 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices added 1.32 cents to US$3.0669 a gallon. Natural gas futures added 12.4 cents to US$11.087 per 1,000 cubic feet. Brent crude futures rose 84 cents to US$117.18 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
