Supply concerns send oil price up

Oil prices have risen in recent days

Oil prices have risen on geopolitical worries after the US signed a missile shield deal with Poland.

The US has sealed an agreement to station parts of its missile defence shield on Polish territory, to the annoyance of key oil exporter Russia.

US light crude added 66 cents to $116.22 a barrel, while in London, Brent crude was up 50 cents to $114.86.

Russia's links with the West have been under strain after its recent military intervention in Georgia.

"There's a myriad of geopolitical factors rumbling in the background - Russia, Iran," said Tony Machacek of Bache Commodities, alluding to the continuing dispute over Iran's nuclear plans.

The recent conflict between Russia and Georgia dented oil supplies, with BP saying exports of Azeri oil by rail to Georgia had stopped after a railway line was damaged.

And the latest tensions between Poland and Russian seemed to weigh more on the market than figures on Wednesday showing that US stocks of oil increased by 9.4 million barrels - the largest weekly increase since March 2001.

Another factor pushing up prices was speculation that oil producer cartel Opec might reduce supply in an attempt to prevent prices from falling.

While prices have risen lately, they are still far off the record of more than $147 a barrel which was hit in July.

Many analysts expect that slowing US demand will push prices lower