Supply fears push oil beyond $73

Maintenance work in the US has raised concerns

The price of oil topped $73 a barrel on Thursday, amid fears that maintenance work on refineries could reduce petrol supply in the US.

The planned work comes as the so-called US "driving season", the annual summer rise in car usage, gets under way.

Valero Energy's plant in Texas city is among those closed for maintenance.

The increasing oil price comes as other commodities - including gold and copper - reached levels last seen a quarter of a century ago.

Valero said part of its Texas-based refineries would be closed for a week, reducing output from 240,000 barrels a day to 15,000.

By cutting supplies, Valero caused major market concerns, said Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital.

"It is an indication of how sensitive the market is to any news of supply problems right now," he said.

Local unrest

US light crude ended the day up $1.19 to $73.32 a barrel, while Brent crude reached $73.43 - although neither breached the record of $75.35 seen in April.

Gold climbed as high as $713.50 an ounce, while copper reached $8,315 a metric tonne.

Concerns over oil supplies from Nigeria amid local unrest and from Iran, where geopolitical tensions are rising, have contributed to higher oil prices.

A US oil employee with Baker Hughes was shot dead in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on Wednesday, before two foreign oil workers were taken hostage on Thursday.

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil exporter.