Damaged BP platform ups oil prices -

Oil prices rose on Monday after BP said output from a massive Gulf of Mexico platform damaged by last year's Hurricane Dennis would not be restored until mid-2008, at the earliest.
Analysts said the BP news did not cause the rally by itself, although it may have magnified a technical bounce that began on Friday following nearly two straight weeks of declines.
"You can't go down every day," said BNP Paribas Commodity Futures broker Tom Bentz. "We needed to recover a little bit."
BP's Thunder Horse platform, which can produce up to 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 200 million cubic feet a day of natural gas, had been expected to be running by early next year. But the London-based company said new sub sea equipment failed during a test and it will need to be rebuilt.
Light sweet crude for October delivery climbed US47 cents to settle at $US63.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude rose US72 cents to settle at $US64.05 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Despite Monday's gains, energy futures have been in a tailspin in recent weeks due to a combination of soaring global inventories, a weakening US economy and a perception of reduced geopolitical and hurricane threats.
On Friday, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said fourth-quarter demand for its oil would be 320,000 bpd lower than previously forecast, or 28.86 million bpd.
Analysts say there has been a shift in energy-market psychology since prices peaked above $US78 in July, as traders focus on the relatively comfortable balance between supply and demand as opposed to the hypothetical supply threats.
Still, a senior Iranian official has warned against international sanctions over its nuclear program, saying Teheran would respond to such "hostile action" over his country's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment by cutting international inspections.
Iranian Vice-President Reza Aghazadeh issued the threat amid urgings by the head of the UN nuclear monitoring agency for a start to talks between Iran and six world powers on easing world concerns that Teheran could be seeking to make an atomic bomb.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures gained US2.34 cents to settle at $US1.7141 a gallon, while petrol futures rose less than US1 cent to settle at $US1.5796 per gallon. Natural gas futures fell US4 cents to settle at $US4.942 per 1,000 cubic feet.