Oil tops $116 as Gaddafi rains bombs

Brent crude rose for the second day on Thursday to surpass $116 after forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi bombed oil industry infrastructure, inflicting longer-term damage on the country's exporting capacity.

Brent crude rose for the second day on Thursday to surpass $116 after forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi bombed oil industry infrastructure, inflicting longer-term damage on the country's exporting capacity.

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Gaddafi's forces struck an oil pipeline leading to Es Sider and dropped bombs on storage tanks in the Ras Lanuf oil terminal area in the eastern section of Libya.

Libya turned away an oil tanker hired by Chinese oil trading firm Unipec to lift 2.0 million barrels of crude, a trading source said on Thursday.

Brent crude for April gained 15 cents to $116 a barrel, after soaring almost $3 on Wednesday, or 2.5%. US crude gained 44 cents to $105, after touching a 2-1/2-year peak of almost $107 earlier this week.