Oil is drifting near flat as tension in Ukraine and Libya urges prices higher, but fundamentally high supply keeps them capped.
Brent crude for July delivery was up just six cents at $109.43 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. June crude was down just five cents at $102.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Events in Ukraine have made it clear that Europe is too dependent on Russia for its energy supplies and Russia is too dependent on Europe for its energy demand. Both sides need to diversify," wrote David Hufton of brokerage PVM in a note to clients.
This week there has been lower risk-premium than in some previous weeks, with little concrete news from the region on which the oil market might react.
Libya, meanwhile, has been more volatile than in recent time.
After weeks of assurances that oil would soon be flowing from key fields, renewed violence in the North African country has made that unlikely.
Total SA (TOT) and Sonatrach have begun pulling staff out of the country, said analyst Malcolm Graham-Wood in a blog.
Overall, oil is marginally up, but the market remains well-supplied, wrote Kash Kamal of Sucden Research in a note to clients.
"Geopolitical risk events have supported front month futures from their year-to-date lows of $104/bbl in early April, towards $110/bbl," he wrote, "but with fundamental concerns regarding Chinese growth, higher prices may struggle to materialize."
Recently the ICE's gasoil contract for June delivery was down $2.25 at $910.00 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for July delivery was up 26 points at $2.9517 a gallon.
