Brent crude rose on Monday to its highest price in more than five weeks, pushing its premium to U.S. benchmark crude past $21 a barrel, a record, as a force majeure in Nigeria further strained a tight European market. Brent's premium to U.S. crude rose another $1.50 a barrel after hitting a series of record highs last week. Traders cited a host of bullish factors in Europe, from Libya's prolonged outage to limited supplies of North Sea benchmark Forties crude, Reuters reported. A fresh catalyst emerged on Monday when Royal Dutch Shell declared force majeure on its Nigerian Bonny Light crude oil loadings for June and July. Shell blamed production cutbacks caused by leaks and fires on its Trans-Niger Pipeline. Brent crude for July delivery rose 85 cents to $119.63 a barrel by 11:54 a.m. EDT (1554 GMT). U.S. July crude fell 80 cents to $98.49 barrel, having slipped as low as $97.81. "The Shell force majeure explains some of the Brent strength and even though there is crude around, it's a question of quality," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago. "U.S. crude supplies are ample and there are still concerns about the lack of Libyan (sweet) crude and Saudi intentions to raise output doesn't solve the problem for European refiners because the Saudi crude is sour," Flynn added. U.S. gasoline and heating oil futures were supported by the strength of the Brent contract, which has pushed domestic sweets like Light Louisiana Sweet to big differentials above the benchmark U.S. light sweet crude contract. -- SPA
