Tuesday, September 19 2006 15:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: "Oil prices climbed in Asian trade today (Sept 19,2006), supported by news that the launch of British energy giant BP's facilities in the Gulf of Mexico may be delayed," dealers said.

At around 10:30 am (0800 IST), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, was up 27 cents at 64.07 dollars a barrel from its last settlement price of 63.80 dollars in US trade yesterday.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery rose 35 cents to 64.40 dollars.

"The market seems to be grabbing the bullish news about the BP facilities in the Gulf of Mexico," said Victor Shum, an anaylst for Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

BP said yesterday that the launch of its Thunder Horse oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico would be delayed until at least 2008 because facility components have failed safety tests.

The facility had been due to start production at the end of 2005, with a planned daily output capacity of 250,000 barrels of crude and 5.7 million cubic meters of natural gas.

Dealers said that the combination of fading supply worries, rising inventories, a mild Atlantic hurricane season, OPEC's pledge to keep output unchanged and a lessening of tensions over Iran's nuclear programme caused the heavy price falls last week.

"The revised forecasts for demand from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) put downward pressure on prices," analysts said.