LONDON, Nov 9: World oil prices rose on Friday but were off record high points close to $100 a barrel as the market digested supply concerns and the prospect of lower demand for crude, analysts said

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, climbed 47 cents to $95.93. On Wednesday it had hit an historic peak of $98.62 dollars on expectations of a large drop to US energy inventories.

In London on Friday, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained four cents to $92.83. On Wednesday it struck an all-time high of $95.19.

“Market participants worry that a further slow down in US economic growth could dent demand for energy in the world’s top consumer,” Sucden analyst Michael Davies said in London.

“It seems that at the moment investors are focusing on this short term outlook for the US economy, even though in the longer term global oil demand is still seen outpacing supply,” he added.

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday painted a gloomy picture of the US economy that fuelled speculation about another cut to American interest rates.

Bernanke’s comments pushed the dollar to a new all-time low against the euro. That makes crude cheaper for buyers paying for energy in euros, which paradoxically can help to push up demand.

Oil prices have meanwhile won support this week from a number of supply worries. They have spiked partly thanks to the closure of oil platforms off the Norwegian coast owing to fierce storms in the North Sea.

Norway is the world’s fifth largest exporter of crude. In September it produced 2.179 million barrels per day (mbd).

Unrest in oil-producing Yemen also offered support to crude futures.

Clashes between Yemeni tribesmen and security personnel protecting a Ukrainian oil company left 16 people dead in Shabwa province, east of the capital.

One of the world’s poorest nations despite its proximity to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen produces 380,000 barrels of crude a day.

More than half of the production is exported, but Yemen is not a member of the Opec oil cartel, which this week has seen its basket price of crude oil pass the $90 mark for the first time.

The basket price serves as the reference price for output policies of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries.

Elsewhere this week, Brazil said it had discovered huge petroleum reserves in its south that could turn the country into one of the biggest oil producers in the world.

Crude futures’ gains were meanwhile limited this week by news that US energy stockpiles have fallen by a smaller than expected amount. —AFP