Brent up on maintenance shutdowns

The price of crude oil was higher on Friday as the International Energy Agency again warned that OPEC must increase production in order to avoid tight supplies in the second half of the year.

In addition, the IEA estimated that demand growth would rise to 2.2 million barrels per day next year despite higher prices but that supply growth from non-OPEC oil producers would remain at 1 million barrels per day.

OPEC continues to insist, however, that its production is not the problem but that low refinery utilization, geopolitical concerns, and speculators are the cause of tight markets and rising prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery ended floor trade at $73.81 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a gain of $1.31, but later rose to $73.93 per barrel in electronic trade and had been as high as $74 per barrel earlier in the day.

August contracts for Brent crude added $1.17 to $77.50 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London after rising as high as $77.68.

Brent prices were suffering from reduced output in the North Sea as pipelines and fields are shut down for maintenance.

Nymex August gasoline dropped 4 cents to $2.22 per gallon on the session, but August heating oil added 1 cent to $2.11 per gallon and September natural gas gained 17 cents to $6.78 per million British thermal units.