Oil prices rallied today thanks to support from a batch of upbeat US data and an oil strike in Norway, which reduced its production by 240,000 barrels per day.

The Norwegian government said it currently had no plans to intervene to help settle the labour dispute. However, Labour Minister Hanne Bjurstroem told Reuters that an intervention was possible if the crisis had “great consequences to society”.

Meanwhile, concerns about the strength of the ongoing economic recovery in the US eased after today’s durable goods orders and housing data topped forecasts.

The Commerce Department said orders for goods that are not expected to wear out within three years surged 1.1 percent last month following a 0.2 percent drop in April.

Later in the session, a report from the National Association of Realtors revealed that pending home sales hit two year highs after climbing 5.9 percent in May.

Gains in crude oil futures were curbed by today’s inventories report from the Department of Energy.

While a Bloomberg survey predicted a drop of 1.3 million barrels, the report showed that America’s crude stocks shed only 100,000 barrels.

US light, sweet crude for August delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), rallied US$1.35 to US$80/71/barrel in morning trade in New York.

August Brent crude rose 68 cents to US$93.70/barrel on the ICE Exchange this afternoon.

Today’s top risers in the oil and gas sector were:

( ), up 15 percent at 10.05 pence at midday

( ), up 10.5 percent at 6.6 pence

Chariot Oil & Gas ( ), up 8 percent at 98.3 pence

Max Petroleum ( ), up 6 percent at 3.82 pence

San Leon Energy ( ), up 5 percent at 8.4 pence

( ), up 4.5 percent at 85.86 pence

The top fallers were:

( ), down 15 percent at 9.01 pence at midday

Matra Petroleum ( ), down 14.5 percent at 1.62 pence

Gold Oil ( ), down 5.5 percent at 3.55 pence

Oilex ( ), down 5 percent at 7.44 pence

( ), down 5 percent at 2.32 pence