Oil up $8 to $99.34

"Oil is not viewed as safe a haven as gold, but investors consider it safer than equities," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Gertz & Purvin in Singapore. "If these financial troubles lead to a world recession however, that's going to affect demand big-time." - Yahoo

clipped from biz.yahoo.com Stepped-up attacks by Nigerian militants against the country's oil infrastructure helped to support oil prices. In a fifth day of violence, Nigeria's main militant group said Wednesday that it had destroyed an oil-pumping station and a pipeline crossing southern Nigeria in a rare daylight attack. A spokesman for Nigeria's state oil company said Wednesday that militant attacks are now cutting the country's daily oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, 40 percent of what the country produced before the militant campaign began three years ago. The U.S. government reported Wednesday a bigger-than-expected drop in crude supplies, reflecting the shutdown of virtually all Gulf Coast oil production because of Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav. The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stocks fell by 6.3 million barrels for the week ending Sept. 12, much bigger than the 3.7 million barrel drop expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts.