World oil prices firm

LONDON (AFP) - World oil prices edged higher on Tuesday after US forecasters issued a hurricane warning for the Gulf of Mexico where many US energy facilities are based, traders said.
The warning came as Tropical Storm Dolly swirled through the Gulf.
Brent North Sea crude for September delivery added nine cents to 132.70 dollars per barrel in London trade. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, gained six cents to 131.10 dollars a barrel. “Dolly is one of the factors” for higher prices, said Ken Hasegawa, a broker at Newedge Japan. “The situation is not so serious at the moment, but (the storm’s) direction is hard to predict.”
The market had rebounded on Monday, after falling by more than 16 dollars last week, as Dolly bounded into the Gulf of Mexico and the international community tightened pressure on oil producer Iran to halt its nuclear programme.
“The storm, whilst not yet a hurricane, has potential to threaten some Mexican production facilities in the Bay of Campeche,” added analysts at the John Hall Associates consultancy.
“At this time it is expected that US facilities towards the east are expected to escape the trajectory.” Forecasters issued a hurricane warning on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Dolly threatened to grow into a hurricane within 24 hours near the Mexico-Texas border.
“A hurricane warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Port O’Connor,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said at 0600 GMT. “A hurricane warning is also in effect for the northeast coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando north to the border with the United States.” The warning means hurricane conditions are expected in the area in the next day. At 0600 GMT, the center of the storm was about 320 miles (515 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas, as it moved westward near 17 mph (28 km/hr), the NHC said, noting that “the center of Dolly should be very near the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.”