Oil in London rose, widening its premium to New York futures, as investors speculated that a resumption of Libyan output will take longer than expected. Signs of rising stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, depressed U.S. prices relative to the European benchmark contract. Brent gained as much as 0.9 percent, driving the spread over New York crude to $26.91 a barrel compared with a record $26.96 on Sep. 2. Negotiations have reached an impasse in Libya for the peaceful handover of towns where Muammar Qaddafi may be hiding, according to rebel fighters yesterday. Crude inventories at Cushing, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil, rose 2.4 percent on Sept. 1 from Aug. 31, according to DigitalGlobe Inc. “It’s going to take a very long time to restore Libyan production to its pre-conflict levels,” said Mark Keenan, chief investment officer of Cubit Asset Management Pte in Singapore, whose fund gained 5.26 percent last month from commodity trades. Rising stockpiles at Cushing are keeping New York prices below the European benchmark contract, he said. Brent oil for October settlement gained as much as $1.01 to $111.09 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $110.59 at 1:54 p.m. Sydney time. Crude for October delivery was at $83.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 2.9 percent from its Sept. 2 close. Floor trading was shut yesterday for the Labor Day holiday and electronic trades will be booked with today’s transactions for settlement purposes. To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net; Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in Singapore at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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