World crude oil prices surged above 72 dollars on Wednesday amid worries over Iran and Nigeria, although U.S. energy stocks improved.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, added 1.44 dollars to close at 72.13 dollars a barrel.

On London's ICE Futures exchange, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was up 1.36 dollars to settle at 72.44 dollars a barrel.

Inventories of U.S. commercial crude oil and gasoline climbed last week, the Energy Department reported Wednesday in its weekly nationwide survey.

Data showed that the nation's commercial crude oil inventories climbed by 300,000 barrels to 347 million barrels, or 5 percent above year-ago levels.

Gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.4 million barrels to 205.1 million barrels, or 3.8 percent below year-ago levels.

At the same time, supplies of distillates, which are used to make heating oil and diesel, climbed by 200,000 barrels to 114.7 million barrels, or 10 percent higher than last year.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Wednesday that U.S. expects to see actions by the United Nations Security Council in the settlement of Iran's nuclear crisis after a couple of weeks.

Foreign ministers of the United Nations Security Council's five permanent member states plus Germany met in New York later Monday to map out a common strategy to force Iran to halt its uranium enrichment activities. But the meeting failed to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, an executive of the U.S. oil service company Baker Hughes was killed in an apparently targeted attack in Nigeria's southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt on Wednesday, according to Reuters news. About one-fourth of Nigeria's daily output is still shut after a series of militant attacks. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

Source: Xinhua