Saudi production pledge fails to mollify markets

Oil rose to within $3 of a record on speculation Saudi Arabia's output increase may not raise global supply because of production halts in Nigeria and the North Sea.

The world's biggest oil producer will pump an extra 200,000 barrels a day next month, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al- Naimi said in Jeddah. Militant attacks on Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp.'s facilities in Nigeria last week halted more than 300,000 barrels a day. North Sea output has fallen after two emergency platform evacuations.

"Any effect that the extra Saudi oil might have had in cooling prices is being offset by the latest woes in Nigeria and the North Sea," said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Bache Commodities Ltd. "The decision in Jeddah really just confirmed what Saudi Arabia had already said they'd add."