Oil higher in Asian trade on Arab unrest

SINGAPORE: Oil was up in Asian trade Monday as escalating tensions in Libya, Syria and Yemen heightened fears of supply disruption in the Middle East and North African region.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose 52 cents to $112.81 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for June gained 54 cents to $124.53.

"The violence in Syria and Yemen escalated over the weekend, and traders worry about supply disruption," said Ong Yi Ling, an investment analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.

In oil-producing Libya, veteran leader Moamer Kadhafi's office in his immense Tripoli residence was destroyed in an air strike by NATO warplanes enforcing a UN resolution early Monday, said an AFP journalist.

Libyan rebels have been seeking to oust Kadhafi after uprisings deposed the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year.

In Syria, security forces shot and arrested demonstrators in a two-day crackdown over the weekend, while fresh clashes broke out between tribesmen and Republican Guard forces in Yemen's southern province of Lahij