Oil prices climb over US$71

As the market worried about the approaching U.S. summer driving season followed by the Atlantic hurricane season which starts on June 1, oil prices rose. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose to US$71.43 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The market will close early on Friday and remain closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the summer driving season, when gasoline demand peaks. Hurricanes caused tremendous damage last season to oil infrastructure in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the shutdown of onshore refineries and pipelines. Worries about summer supply shortages were reignited by reports of refinery snags: Pasadena Refining Systems briefly shut a key gasoline-producing unit at its 100,000 bpd Pasadena, Texas, refinery following an operational error Wednesday and Murphy Oil Corp.'s refinery, shuttered since Hurricane Katrina, may not return to normal operations until the end of June - a month later than expected.