Oil prices rise on tension in Nigeria

NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rose slightly in New York Monday on tensions in Nigeria and a sharp drop in U.S. miles driven in May compared to a year ago.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported flow through a 130,000-barrel-a-day pipeline stopped after a militant group claimed it had bombed two pipelines, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Damage to the second pipeline was unconfirmed, the Journal reported.

But, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday that demand had dropped 3.7 percent in May compared with May 2007, the largest annual drop for the month of May on record -- a month miles driven typically expands.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil prices rose 29 cents to $124.76 per barrel Monday.

The price of heating oil rose 0.002 cents in late trading to $3.564 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.001 cents to $3.069 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.029 cents to $9.134 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded gasoline fell to less than $4 a gallon last weekend and Monday were at $3.958 per gallon, down from Sunday's $3.97, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.