Oil had started the session lower as some traders judged that the death of Osama bin Laden after a U.S. raid in Pakistan would skim some of the risk premium off oil prices.
Crude for June delivery added 49 cents, or 0.4%, to $114.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil closed out last week at its highest level since September 2008.Brent crude for June also turned higher, up 17 cents, or 0.1%, to $126.06 on ICE Futures in London.
The death of bin Laden had created “expectation that the risk of terror will decline and the risk premium on the price of oil could also drop as a result,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients Monday.
Meanwhile, the reportedly death of one of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s sons in a NATO air strike over the weekend has boosted hopes of a swifter end to the fighting in Libya and normalization of oil production sooner, the analysts said.
“We do not believe these hopes are realistic, though, and the fall in price should be short-lived,” they added.
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