LONDON, July 19 (AFP) - Oil prices rose Monday as markets showed little sign of ending fears about tight supplies and possible terrorist attacks, traders said.
The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September, the new reference contract, rose 10 cents to 38.10 dollars per barrel in late trading in London.
New York's light sweet crude benchmark August futures rose 23 cents to 41.48 dollars per barrel in early deals.
The fresh rises came after New York light sweet crude for delivery in August had surged by 48 cents to end at 41.25 dollars per barrel on Friday after spiking at 41.80 dollars, the highest close since the June 1 record finish of 42.33 dollars.
High demand for oil from China amid tight supplies and uncertainty from terrorism fears in Iraq and the wider Middle East have helped to push prices to record levels despite it being the traditionally slack summer season in the northern hemisphere.
"Even an easing of China's economic growth rate down to the 7-8 percent targeted by the government might not be enough to abate the growth in oil consumption," the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies said in its monthly oil report published Monday.
In an effort to curb world prices, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in June to raise its output ceiling by 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in two stages.
OPEC first increased production by two million bpd on July 1.
A further 500,000 bpd rise is scheduled for August 1, bringing the production of the 10 OPEC states in the quota system -- Iraq is not included -- to a total of 26 million barrels per day.
But analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm Monday voiced renewed scepticism over OPEC's moves to increase output.
"It is unclear if this will represent any real production increases. Most members of the cartel are already pumping at almost full capacity, well above the new limit of 26 million bpd."
OPEC had planned to meet in Vienna this Wednesday but cancelled the meeting last week. Analysts said the cartel had no reason to confer as it did not plan to make changes to its production policy agreed in June and was happy with current prices.
Meanwhile, Norwegian energy conglomerate Norsk Hydro said Monday that its operating income more than doubled in the second quarter to 8.29 billion kroner (1.22 billion dollars, 986 million euros), helped by skyrocketing oil prices.