LONDON :Oil prices rose on Monday in choppy trade, with Brent crude topping US$112 a barrel, as outages in Libya deepened concern over tight global supply and the Ukraine crisis dragged on, offsetting concern over slowing Chinese demand. Adding to supply pressures from sanctions on Russia, Libya's National Oil Corp on Monday warned "a painful wave of closures" had begun hitting its facilities and declared force majeure at Al-Sharara oilfield and other sites. Oil surged to the highest since 2008 in March, with Brent briefly topping US$134. Russian production declined by 7.5per cent in the first half of April from March, Interfax reported on Friday, and EU governments said last week the bloc's executive was drafting proposals to ban Russian crude. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Alex Lawler in London; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Source: Libya Today April 18, 2022 12:47 UTC