Al-Zawahri pushes Oil back above $60

reuters: Oil marched above $60 on Wednesday after investors were unnerved by al Qaeda's new call for militants to strike oil sites in Muslim states, that pump nearly 20 percent of world supply.

Prices had already been pushed higher by expectations that stockpiles of heating fuel would be drawn down in the U.S. Northeast, the world's biggest heating oil market, in the grip of a cold blast.

U.S. crude rose 66 cents to $60.60 a barrel by 1353 GMT, having gained just 3 cents on Tuesday, its fifth consecutive day's rise. London Brent crude was up 69 cents at $58.30.

Al Qaeda claimed a direct hit on Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal in the Gulf last year. Iraq's oil pipelines are regularly put out of action by sabotage.

Al Qaeda's call to arms has left consumers fretting over the security of Middle East exports.

"I call on mujahideen to concentrate their attacks on Muslims' stolen oil, from which most of the revenues go to the enemies of Islam while most of what they leave is seized by the thieves who rule our countries," al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video interview on an Islamist Web site. Read more