May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded above $71 a barrel in New York after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. will continue pressing for possible sanctions against Iran at the United Nations.
Iran is ``playing games'' in its latest offer to negotiate on uranium enrichment, Rice said on ABC's ``This Week'' program yesterday. Concern that Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, will cut shipments should the UN impose sanctions helped push oil to a record $75.35 a barrel last month.
``There's really no end in sight to the situation with Iran,'' said Gerard Burg, energy and minerals economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. ``As long as you've these worries over Iran, prices really won't drop away.''
Crude oil for June delivery was at $71.77 a barrel, down 11 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:36 a.m. Singapore time. Prices today are 44 percent higher than a year ago.
Prices gained 1.3 percent on April 28 after the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported that it had been unable to confirm that Iran's uranium enrichment wasn't intended for making weapons.
The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which includes the U.S. and China, will meet in New York on May 9 with their German counterpart to discuss the Iranian nuclear crisis, Agence France-Presse reported April 28, citing a U.S. State Department official.
Crude oil last week fell 4.4 percent to close at $71.88 on April 28.
IAEA Role
Iran, which has offered to provide more information if the dispute is handled by the IAEA, is prepared to negotiate on the scope of its nuclear enrichment and may still consider a Russian proposal to enrich the fuel and ship it to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in Tehran yesterday.
Iran is prepared to provide more information clarifying the IAEA's concerns by May 20, the UN agency said in its April 28 report to the Security Council.
``While the Iranian issue is around it probably won't get below $70,'' said Tobin Gorey, commodity analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney.
New York oil futures have gained 18 percent this year, on Iran's looming showdown with the UN and after militant attacks cut oil output in Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer, by more than 20 percent.
Nigeria Bombing
Nigerian militants said they were responsible for a weekend car-bombing near the Warri refinery in the Niger delta. The blast near parked fuel tankers on April 29 destroyed four other cars without causing any casualties, AFP reported, citing government spokesman Sunny Areh.
Militant attacks in February on pipelines and the Forcados export terminal, which is run by the Nigerian venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, halted oil production of as much as 631,000 barrels a day. About 500,000 barrels a day remained shut down, Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru said on April 18.
