Brent crude stayed above $111 a barrel on Tuesday as conflict in South Sudan threatened its oil output at a time when production cuts in Libya are already curbing global supply.
"In countries like South Sudan ... there’s always a risk to production, although the market doesn’t appear to be reacting much to it at the moment. Traders will be monitoring the situation." CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.
South Sudan’s information minister dismissed claims by Mr. Machar that his rebels had taken over all the major oil fields in Unity and Upper Nile states as "wishful thinking".
Any disruption in Sudanese oil supply will add to Libya’s production cut of more than 1-million barrels a day, as its key oil ports stay shut.
Despite the geopolitical tensions in Africa, a well-supplied market has capped oil price gains.
"I find it hard to get bullish about oil prices," Mr. Spooner said. "The market is very well supplied as there’s plenty of capacity so it’s been difficult for oil to make much of an improvement."