World oil prices mixed on Wednesday after a big rise in U.S. crude inventories offset supply disruptions in Libya and Nigeria .
New York's main contract , light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rose 71 cents to 99.90 dollars per barrel , AFP reported .
Brent crude oil for delivery in May fell 23 cents to stand at 106.76 U.S. dollars per barrel in late trading in London .
" Price support on the one hand and the risk of disruption of production . On top of the continued decline in Libyan production where there is now the latest escalation of violence and the cessation of delivery ... for pipeline leak in Nigeria , " Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said .
He added : " At the same time , the supply situation is still pretty bad and economic development in developing countries oppose any sustained price increases . Meanwhile , crude stocks were piling up in the United States . "
U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday that U.S. crude oil inventories have jumped 6.6 million barrels last week , far greater than had been anticipated by the market .
Offset the higher inventory is unrest in Libya , where rebels are pressing for autonomy for the country's eastern Cyrenaica region have blocked oil terminals since July .
That has led to a decline in exports of 1.5 million barrels per day to just 250,000 barrels .
Elsewhere, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said on Wednesday it had announced a " force majeure " on exports of crude oil from Nigeria because it was difficult to repair sabotaged pipelines .
" Force majeure " is a legal term that removing a company from contractual obligations when faced with a situation that is out of control .
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer , producing more than two million barrels per day .
Oil prices in New York surged on Wednesday (Thursday morning GMT ) , after data showed a drop in crude supplies in the U.S. and an important trade center of a larger decline in gasoline stocks .
The benchmark U.S. light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate ( WTI ) futures for May delivery rose 1.07 dollars to close at 100.26 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange , AFP reported .
European benchmark , Brent crude for May delivery was up four cents to 107.03 dollars a barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London .
Overall U.S. oil supplies rose 6.6 million barrels for the week, according to a weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Agency ( EIA ) , well above the 2.8 million barrels projected by analysts surveyed by the Wall Street Journal .
But the EIA report showed a decline of 1.3 million barrels in Cushing , Oklahoma , oil trading hub for the U.S. benchmark .
EIA report on Wednesday marks the eighth consecutive week saw a decline in Cushing , said Robert Yawger , director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities . Cushing stocks are at the lowest level since January 2012 , he said .
" The concentration is the amount at Cushing , " said Yawger .
The decrease in supply at Cushing is " ongoing bullish factors " for oil , said Andy Lebow , senior vice president for energy derivatives at Jefferies Bache .
" We will have enough supply ... but we get a significantly lower level , " said Lebow .
Analysts also cited a decline of 5.1 million barrels in gasoline supplies , more than 1.3 million decline expected by analysts ..
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at lowest close in the last six weeks on Wednesday (Thursday morning GMT ) , as the dollar strengthened .
The most active gold contract for April delivery fell eight dollars, or 0.61 percent, to settle at 1303.4 dollars per ounce , Xinhua reported .
However , a limited fall of gold on Wednesday as precious metals supported strong physical demand from China . The data showed that net gold imports from Hong Kong SAR China reached 112.3 tonnes in February , the highest level since October and almost twice as imports in the same month last year .
In fact , in an effort to meet the high demand for gold in the Chinese market , the Chinese government in January to provide more licenses to banks to import gold .
Description of more monetary easing from the European Central Bank officials ( ECB ) also support gold , although they pressured the euro and pushed the U.S. dollar at the beginning .
Gold holds above 1,300 dollars on Wednesday and has not fallen below the 1,300 mark since February 13 dollars .
From a long term perspective and consideration of the potential for the dollar will strengthen , market analysts estimate the average price of gold at about 1,256 dollars per ounce for the year, down nearly 11 percent from 2013 . Gold will continue to improve , they said .
Silver for May delivery lost 19.9 cents, or one per cent to close at 19.78 U.S. dollars per ounce . Platinum for April delivery fell 14.4 dollars, or 1.01 percent, to close at 1406.5 U.S. dollars per ounce .
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