Oil prices rise above 58 dollars

World crude future prices rose above 58 dollars per barrel on Friday amid concern of Norway's halted production.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, rose 71 cents to close at 58.57 dollars per barrel.

In London on Friday, Brent North Sea crude for November delivery was up 76 cents to settle with 59.52 dollars per barrel.

Norway's leading oil company, Statoil, and Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell said Friday they had halted production at two oil platforms off the Norwegian coast after safety problems were detected in their lifeboats, according to AFP reports.

The closure of the Draugen and Snorre A platform will reduce overall Norwegian output by 280,000 barrels a day, or a little more than 12 percent of the total.

U.S. Energy Department reported Thursday that crude oil inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels to 330.5 million barrels last week. Gasoline inventories also increased. But heating oil inventories declined 1.75 million barrels to 61.2 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua